Researchers develop more effective 'active' invisibility cloak

Scientists may be getting closer to that seemingly elusive goal of making an invisibility cloak that can fool the human eye.

 

A new cloak developed at the University of Texas at Austin uses "active" technology or electric power to keep an object invisible over more light frequencies, Mashable reported.

 

"Led by University of Austin professor Andrea Alù, the research uses electronic amplifiers in the ultra-thin cloak — known as 'active' technology — which relies on electrical currents to make an object disappear over a broader light-frequency range," it said.

 

It noted previous invisibility cloaks were not as physically thin and cannot fully shield an object since "passive" technology had no power source and covers limited bandwidths.

 

With the new technology, Mashable said "an object invisible in red light would also be invisible in blue light."

 

By comparison, previous cloaks would make an object disappear in red light, but not in blue light.

 

However, Mashable noted the University of Texas scientists are still working on a prototype that may not be available until after the next few years.

 

Active cloaking

 

Mashable quoted research team member Jason Soric as saying the electronically powered cloaks can work "over a much larger bandwidth than any other passive cloak, especially considering, that it cloaks at all angles, and not just in one direction."

 

"Embedding electronics into passive cloaking covers has been shown to allow great control over the surface current needed to cancel the scattering of bare objects," Soric told Mashable in an email. — TJD, GMA News