Cloak Of Invisibility To Microwaves Unveiled At University Of Texas

Scientists have developed a new cloak of invisibility, a.k.a. invisibility cloak, and this time a version that cloaks objects from human vision could be close at hand. In the past, we've seen stories about two-dimensional cloaks and cloaks that hide short events in time; but now, researchers at Hogwarts the University of Texas at Austin have developed a free-standing box, such that you can put an object in and it will disappear.

The cloak, described in a new paper in the New Journal of Physics, hides objects from microwave radiation, but co-author Professor Andrea Alu is confident that "in principle, this technique could be used to cloak [visible] light."

What will they do with their creation?

The first application they're looking into doesn't involve spies or aliens. The researchers, including Alu, want to cloak the tips of microscopes so that they don't get in the way of precise measurements.

The device works because of its use of a metamaterial—man-made materials engineered to have properties not found in natural substances—that doesn't reflect light the way ordinary objects do. According to InnovationNewsDaily,

Alu's cloak works by reflecting electromagnetic waves in a way that cancels out the waves that the object reflects. "It's kind of an interference between the two...The combination of the two becomes invisible."

The paper is optimistic for the development of even more practical cloaks: the authors say "We believe that our results pave the way to realistic, practical applications of 3D stand-alone cloaks for radar evasion and non-invasive radio frequency probing."

Also on HuffPost:

Comments

[Gaaltero]

11:34 PM on 01/27/2012

Where's the video?

[Megalon]

06:20 PM on 01/27/2012

I don't see how this technology could be misused.. at all! I doubt anyone would use such a useful tool to help murder or rape someone! Thanks Japan, you're always improving the world!

[czs5056]

10:24 AM on 01/29/2012

the octopuses and squids will be using it to sneak up on the school girls

[LeoChild]

11:31 AM on 01/27/2012

I thought the army /us gov. already developed invisibility technology years ago.

[fuzzychickens]

10:13 PM on 01/27/2012

They found out how to make 3 trillion invisible.

They are good.

[Hal McCombs]

05:53 AM on 01/28/2012

They must think Obama is a super-genius, then. He makes money disappear in less than half the time, and he doesn't even have to get anything for the money, like the army does.

[czs5056]

10:26 AM on 01/29/2012

it's not invisible. it's adsorbs the radar waves making everything behind it a bit fuzzy. this bends the waves so you can still see what is behind it as it the object you are hiding was never there.

[FBatRNC]

11:29 AM on 01/27/2012

I can one-up this article with this one that cloaks time.

http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2011-07/some-people-talk-about-time-cloaks-cornell-they-built-one

[ECJIM 3ABTPA BONHA]

10:44 PM on 01/26/2012

Wonder how to goverment is going to monitor who buys the cloaks once there available to the public in the future? Registration with a serial number that is link to a built in GPS device perhaps? Sure it will be something along those lines. Just saying...

[tg9563]

10:27 PM on 01/26/2012

Practical cloaks? More like practical jokes.

[djarhead]

05:51 PM on 01/26/2012

as Schrodinger's kitty smiles broadly as she mixes metaphorically

[FBatRNC]

11:31 AM on 01/27/2012

Kitty is both smiling and frowning at the same time. : )

[Michael Gibb]

04:22 PM on 01/26/2012

From what I understand of the technology, if you could make it work for visible light anyone hiding inside the cloak wouldn't be able to see anything as the cloak would prevent them from receiving any light. Unless that problem can be overcome invisibility technology would only have applications, in the military at least, for something like radar evasion.

[SwiftJonathan]

03:29 PM on 01/26/2012

What's so fascinating about something that can be shown with a one line argument to be physically impossible? Cloaking technologies only work in very narrow wavelength bands, narrow angles and for very limited applications.

And while those may make them useful for the military, there will NEVER be a "techno-magic" cloak that lets a macroscopic object disappear completely.

[oneeasyrider]

05:46 AM on 01/27/2012

My immediate thought was the observable influence of particles in quantum mechanics. Everything in the forefront of science is a stretch, but, there will be significant advances in the years to come. So are you certain, SJ, you've considered all of the possibilities? If there's a beneficial result, it could present a myriad possibilities. And did you watch the video? Shape shifting seems outrageous, and yet, there it is...a viable beginning. You know, had we been having this conversation pre-1950, who would have though we would be traveling to the moon before 1970?

You say cloaking tech only works in narrow wavelength bands (IF), however, if the visible spectrum is a legitimate possibility, doesn't that change everything? Eventually, isn't it possible bandwidth will continue to expand?

[orangeslit]

02:22 PM on 01/26/2012

I'm gonna get me a coat of that stuff so wifey doesn't see me on yard work days!

[donaldaq63]

02:17 PM on 01/26/2012

Strange, I have been unable to see objects that I put in boxes for years. I didn't realize that I had invented invisibility?

[Not2Tired2Stand]

12:57 PM on 01/26/2012

In reading the linked article, this seems like it wouldn't allow light from behind the object to be radiate through it and therefore be visible. So while it might mask the true visible nature of the object, the object's presence would still be known because you'd see a dark spot at its location.

[onionboy]

12:34 PM on 01/26/2012

"Scientists have finally developed a cloak of invisibility, a.k.a. invisibility cloak, and this time there's no catch."

Wait, wait...

"...hides objects from microwave radiation.."

Oh.

[cre8iveman]

12:07 PM on 01/26/2012

Will it cloak my belly fat?

[lifeandvictory]

11:59 AM on 01/26/2012

Haha please, they have tech way more advanced than this. It delves into the metaphysical though; evil stuff.