Invisibility Cloak Becomes a Reality

This article describes the work of Professor George Eleftheriades and PhD student Michael Selvanayagam, who have together created the first practical invisibility cloak. The way this cloak works is by radiating out a field that cancels out any waves that may be scattered on the cloaked object. The cloak is made up essentially of a “blanket” of antennas that radiate opposing waves. Right now the system’s waves must be manually tuned to the frequency they need to cancel, but the research being done could soon change even that. One of the most incredible parts of this breakthrough is the fact that the cloak can be up-scaled to cover larger objects simply by adding more loops of antennas. All earlier attempts were neither active nor adaptive like this.

This article caught my eye for obvious reasons; an invisibility cloak seemed to rank right up there with teleportation in its chances of actually being a reality. But these two incredible researchers in The Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering have done the unthinkable. This new technology could be revolutionary in so many different areas of life. The hope is that one day this life changing innovation will be able to effectively cover medical vehicles, surveillance units, and so much more.

 

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/11/131112132627.htm