Cloaking Made Simpler, but Invisible Humans Not Yet a Reality
Thursday, May 28, 2009 - 13:49
in Physics & Chemistry
In recent years, optics researchers have come up with numerous concepts for invisibility cloaks--camouflaging that would effectively reroute light so as to conceal an object within. Most of those approaches have relied on so-called metamaterials, carefully engineered structures designed to have bizarre optical properties. But a team of researchers has now designed a much simpler cloaking apparatus that does away with the need for metamaterials entirely. Even if a Harry Potter–style invisibility cloak never materializes, the simplification of such extreme light manipulation may have more immediate applications in communications and computing. [More]