Scottish scientists work on real-life invisibility cloak

Experts devise a material that can bend light around its wearer.

By

Katherine Butler

Fri, Nov 05 2010 at 2:22 PM

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Research & Innovation, Technology, Science

DISAPPEARING ACT: Harry Potter's invisibility cloak. (Photo: popculturegeek/Flickr

Harry Potter’s invisibility cloak managed to get him out of several scrapes. Now it looks like a magical cape could enable future real-life adventurers to do the same. STV reports that scientists at the University of St. Andrews have devised a new material that can manipulate light at longer wavelengths. Researchers plan to use the technology to build cloth that can render its wearer invisible.

Experts have long discussed how smart materials could mold light to shield objects from view. Until now, small, light-bending atoms were only able to exist on flat, hard surfaces. But this new material, called Meta-flex, contains flexible metamaterial "membranes" that can move on a non-flat surface. Metamaterials must be tiny to make the short wavelengths of visible light invisible. In addition, the material uses a sort of optical camouflaging technology. Scientists believe that “stacking” the membranes together will provide the basis for a future invisibility cloak.

Dr. Andrea Di Falco is the lead researcher on this project. According to Di Falco, "Metamaterials give us the ultimate handle on manipulating the behavior of light … It could be possible to use Meta-flex for creating smart fabrics and, in the paper, we show how easy it is to place Meta-flex on disposable contact lenses, showing how flexible super lenses could be used for visual prostheses." Di Falco says metamaterials will give scientists the “ultimate handle” on manipulating light.

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Comments: 4

james Mar 20 2011 at 4:24 PM

excellent video of inviso-soldier operating in Irak is available online.just look hard enough and you'll find it...

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Guest Feb 25 2013 at 2:47 PM

I dont care

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John Schnase Nov 06 2010 at 8:56 AM

This is not surprising that scientists are close to bending light to 'fool' the naked eye. Some may recall the supposed 'Philadelphia Experiment', in which a US Navy the - The USS Eldridge and it's crew were bombarded by long wave electromagnetic pulses in order to rearrange particles and render the ship and it's crew invisible. According to reports, the ship was fitted with special coatings and receptive gear at a shipyard in Philadelphia. This story is believed to be bogus, but has taken somewhat

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of a life of it's own. The government maintains this never happened (gee, ya think?). However there have been reports of witnesses from October 1943, who claim to have been on two separate ships and witnessed the visual changes of the USS Eldridge (a green fog supposedly replaced the vessel, then the ship reappeared). Albert Einstein even purportedly theorized of a Unified Field theory, in which light is redistributed to the point of objects becoming invisible. Well, apparently scientists still believe this kind of light manipulation is possible. Take a look at what a simple prism can do. Problem is, can Human physiology maintain cell structure in such scenarios and how about brainwaves? I can clearly see how this can work in Hollywood, but in real life? HMMM. I always wanted X-Ray specs as a kid too. Can you imagine what that kind of technology would do to the person wearing them? By the way, the men in the 'Philadelphia Experiment' were rumored to have gone mad following the event. Others were said to have been fused into the ships bulkheads during the magnetic pulse tests. Again, no comment from the military.