The ability to become invisible has deep roots in the human psyche, figuring into our fantasy lives and into our entertainment choices as well. Whether in science fiction or the Harry Potter series, the capacity to pass undetected holds great allure in spite of the ability remaining out of reach.
Writing for Reuters, Kate Kelland reports that a team of German scientists has successfully developed a cloaking device, made up of a series of stacked, honeycombed crystalline lenses, that achieves the illusion of invisibility by refracting light waves around the object. Item number one for the successful trial of the innovation turns out to have been gold (which makes perfect sense, in that if you happen to so fortunate as to be in possession of some gold, you’ll probably want to keep it out of sight).
The technological breakthrough is currently published in the journal Science. As to what developments may arise next, or how soon they may appear, the researchers aren’t saying. But for now, having demonstrated that the principle of simulated invisibility can in fact be achieved has them excited both about the achievement as well as its future potential. Lead author of the study Tolga Ergin, from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, explains to Reuters:
“This is very exciting, because mankind has always thought about being invisible or having invisibility cloaks. This is the first proof of principle. It shows that the technique works. There have been proposals in the field of transformation optics for different devices like beam concentrators, beam shifters, super antennas which concentrate light into one point from all directions, and much, much more. It is really hard to say what the future will bring, but the field is definitely very broad and the possibilities are very large.”
For now, we’ll have to resign ourselves to being seen as we go about our day-to-day business. Ergin adds that larger devices able to obscure big objects as well as wearable ones such as Harry Potter’s invisibility cloak are probably several years away.
Photo by PT ANTAM Tbk via Wikimedia Commons.
