Skip to Content

UK scientists make an object invisible

zzzzz4556

Scientists at London’s Queen Mary University have claimed that they made an object become invisible to the naked eye as well as certain scientific devices and sensors. While they didn’t specify what the object was, or its size or shape, the research scientists stated that they made it disappear by using, they said, “composite material with nano sized particles”.

The British scientists at Queen Mary University reiterated in no uncertain terms, however, that they really didn’t make the object disappear. What they actually did, they said, was to enhance certain properties along the surface of the object to prevent it from being scene. More of a cloaking rather than an invisibility.

The scientists, it seems, made a curved surface appear to be flat when measured with electromagnetic waves. The scientific community seems in agreement that this is really the first time that such a cloaking experiment has been successfully performed.

Professor Yang Hao, lead author on the research stated that, “Previous work has shown this invisibility technique working at one frequency. However, we can demonstrate that it works at a greater range of frequencies making it more useful for other engineering applications, such as nano antennas and the aerospace industry.”

They had taken a nano composite material and directly fused it with a curved surface to, apparently, prevent the light waves from scattering around and being seen. The team believes that it is a major first step toward creating cloaking devices that can be used in many different applications, areas and industries. A cloaked Klingon Bird of Prey or a Harry Potter invisibility cloak, however, are not considered to be in the immediate future.

Luigi LaSpada, another scientist on the team, stated that, “We demonstrated a practical possibility to use nano deposits to control surface wave propagation through advanced additive manufacturing. Perhaps, most importantly, the invisibility approach used can be applied to other physical phenomena that are described by wave equations such as acoustics. For this reason, we believe that this work has a great industrial impact.”

PHOTO CREDIT: Pixabay