Cloak of Partial Invisibility

Cloaking deviceCamouflage might be useful in hiding one from the enemy, but what about a cloaking device? Scientist are researching on a cloaking device that can reroute certain wavelengths of light, forcing them around objects like water flowing around boulders in a stream. To creatures or machines that see only in microwave light, the cloaked object would appear nearly invisible.

"The microwaves come in and are swept around the cloak and reconstructed on the other side while avoiding the interior region," said study team member David Smith at Duke University's Pratt School of Engineering. "So it looks as if they just passed through free space."

The device only works in the microwave range of light, so cloaked objects are still visible to humans. Also, it only works in two dimensions and only for microwaves moving in a plane. A three-dimensional invisibility cloak would hide an object completely.The microwave cloak is also slightly reflective and casts a partial shadow.

It may be a matter of time whereby this device is refined to work in three dimension space and cloaked objects appear invisible to humans, but I do hope it will be used for a good cause.

Link & Image: LiveScience
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