Real Invisibility Cloak in Development?

The concept of invisibility is not a new one; in fact it is far from it. From the all-time literary classics by J.R.R. Tolkein to the modern-day best-selling series Harry Potter this method of camouflage is a common theme in fantasy.

Working quietly behind the scenes, however, scientists are proving that invisibility is far from a fantasy.

Just last year rumors began to circulate in various science magazines and websites that society may be close to developing a device which could in fact hide an object or person from plain sight. On Tuesday April 2^nd, 2007 a group of engineers from Purdue confirmed that the progress on an "optical-cloaking" device was further along than anyone could have expected.

Unlike in the aforementioned fiction novels, this cloak works by manipulating light around inhabitants. The light would be "bent" around whatever object was under the cloak; thus preserving background images while keeping the object hidden from watchful eyes. The device is described to be able to cloak any object; building upon predecessors which were hampered by size-specific constraints.

There is still work to be done. Human eyesight, as most people who took basic science knows, can only detect wavelengths of light in the visible spectrum. The "optical-cloaking" device can only work on one of these frequencies as of now. As it is now, the device would not be too effective when most needed; in the daytime. With the major breakthroughs made, however, reaching this plateau of scientific achievement seems quite feasible.

Of course, even the fully-finished device would be far from perfect. While objects hidden underneath the invisibility cloak would be camouflaged effectively, they would be far from perfectly hidden. Technology in this day and age simply is not developed enough to support such a gadget. And with concerns of privacy and misuse, not to mention the enormous cost to build, it is unlikely that the cloak will be available to the general public anytime soon.

As of now the only realistic applications of this device is in military combat. Soldiers could easily use the device to become virtually undetectable during the already dark night hours. Of course, due to the relatively expensiveness of these gadgets it seems unlikely that cloaking will be put to use in the near future.

Still the concept of a genuine invisibility cloak is intriguing and exciting. It gives all of us hope that other long-time science-fiction favorites will someday be invented.

Source:

http://master.redorbit.com/news/technology/889774/engineers_bring_invisibility_one_step_closer_to_reality/index.html