Boffins at the Michigan Tech University have invented the invisibility cloak. Unfortunately the cloak doesn't yet work with visible light, only the infrared variety, but it's a start and the scientists are doing there best to move to the visible light.
The cloak is non-metallic and uses metamaterials (artificial materials with unnatural elements) that are made of tiny glass resonators and arranged in a concentric, cylinder shaped pattern.The spokes of this pattern produce a magnetic resonance which can bend light around the small particles that the cloak is made up of. In computer tests, this renders the cloak invisible.But, and this is where it gets really interesting (honestly) - the team is stepping up its efforts in order to test a cloak that has been rescaled and has had ceramic resonators added to work at microwave levels.Within an anechoic chamber, microwaves are transmitted, which are much longer than infrared light waves.
"Starting from these experiments, we want to move to higher frequencies and smaller wavelengths", the researchers said. "The most exciting applications will be at the frequencies of visible light".
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