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 Scientists at the University of Rochester have discovered a way to
hide large objects from sight using inexpensive and readily
available lenses, a technology that seems to have sprung from the
pages of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter fantasy series.
Cloaking is the process by which an object becomes hidden from view,
while everything else around the cloaked object appears undisturbed.
"A lot of people have worked on a lot of different aspects of
optical cloaking for years," John Howell, a professor of physics at
the upstate New York school, said on Friday.
The so-called Rochester Cloak is not really a tangible cloak at all.
Rather the device looks like equipment used by an optometrist. When
an object is placed behind the layered lenses it seems to disappear.
Previous cloaking methods have been complicated, expensive, and not
able to hide objects in three dimensions when viewed at varying
angles, they say.
"From what, we know this is the first cloaking device that provides
three-dimensional, continuously multidirectional cloaking," said
Joseph Choi, a graduate student who helped develop the method at
Rochester, which is renowned for its optical research.
In their tests, the researchers have cloaked a hand, a face, and a
ruler – making each object appear "invisible" while the image behind
the hidden object remains in view. The implications for the
discovery are endless, they say.
"I imagine this could be used to cloak a trailer on the back of a
semi-truck so the driver can see directly behind him," Choi said.
"It can be used for surgery, in the military, in interior design,
art."
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Howell said the Rochester Cloak, like the fictitious cloak described
in the pages of the Harry Potter series, causes no distortion of the
background object.
Building the device does not break the bank either. It cost Howell
and Choi a little over $1,000 in materials to create it and they
believe it can be done even cheaper.
Although a patent is pending, they have released simple instructions
on how to create a Rochester Cloak at home for under $100:
http://www.rochester.edu/newscenter/watch-rochester-cloak-uses-ordinary-lenses-to-hide-objects-across-continuous-range-of-angles-70592/
There is also a one-minute video about the project on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EB6WYo6d-s
(Writing by Frank McGurty; Editing by Sandra Maler)
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