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Scientists Closer To Invisibility Cloak

Posted by timothy on from the excellent-for-parties dept.

Aviran was one of many readers to submit news of a just-announced development in the ongoing quest to develop a working invisibility cloak, writing: "Scientists say they are a step closer to developing materials that could render people and objects invisible. Researchers have demonstrated for the first time they were able to cloak three-dimensional objects using artificially engineered materials that redirect light around the objects. Previously, they only have been able to cloak very thin two-dimensional objects" Reader bensafrickingenius adds a link to coverage at the Times Online, and notes that "the world's two leading scientific journals, Science and Nature, are expected to report the results this week." Tjeerd adds a link to a Reuters' story carried by Scientific American.

4 of 308 comments (clear)

  1. And then... by PJCRP · · Score: 4, Informative

    http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080811-meta-material-does-not-render-anything-invisible.html Oh Ars.

    --
    Knows everything about nothing and nothing about everything.
  2. Nature's Abstract by eldavojohn · · Score: 5, Informative

    "the world's two leading scientific journals, Science and Nature, are expected to report the results this week."

    You can find the Nature abstract here. And if you have a subscription, you can read the full research and see the data they collected from experiments.

    According to the Ars Technica article on this, the Science link will be here.

    There seems to be a few more papers and articles on this but if you're interested you can search for optical metamaterials with negative refractive indexes.

    --
    My work here is dung.
  3. Look over there, a cloaked eye-catching headline by sakdoctor · · Score: 5, Informative

    This story has popped up here and there in the press today, but when I actually RTFA the actual breakthrough is negative refractive index materials, in the visible spectrum.
    The application is not invisible tanks and infantry, but microscopy.

    See here for photoshopped image that enhances the misleading headline http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7553061.stm

  4. Re:War Application by IceMonkiesForSenate · · Score: 5, Informative

    I don't really see many applications for war unless they can allow the person underneath the cloak to see. That's one of the drawbacks to being invisible, since light goes around the cloak no light reaches the invisible person's eyes, and thus the person cannot see. However, I could see someone under fire activating the cloak, and just laying low for a while