Invisible Submarines ? Cloak of invisibility experiment yields surprising results

A team of scientists at the University of Texas at Austin have reportedly created a cloak with the ability to conceal three-dimension objects.

The announcement represents the latest attempt by scientists to create a cloaking device capable of completely concealing any object. The research, published today in the Institute of Physics and German Physical Society’s New Journal of Physics, the latest attempt utilizes a method known as “plasmonic cloaking” to hide an 18-centimetre cylindrical tube from microwaves.

           

The experiment, the first of its kind, reportedly reveals how to cloak a three-dimension object rather than a two-dimensional object, according to scientists. The latest cloaking device relies not only on scattering light, but also includes coating a cylinder with a nanometer-sized plasmonic material that then scatters light along with other electromagnetic waves.

The team noted that the latest results of the experiment are far more groundbreaking than previous attempts to create a cloaking device.

“One of the advantages of the plasmonic cloaking technique is its robustness and moderately broad bandwidth of operation, superior to conventional cloaks based on transformation metamaterials,” said Andrea Alu, one of the lead scientists, in a statement.

The system was tested by directing microwaves towards the cloaked cylinder and mapping the resulting scattering both around the object and in the far-field. While experiment relied on one single object, researchers said the results show that cloaking a range of objects may be possible in the neat future. The team also noted the experiment proves that it is possible to cloak light itself, a revelation that could usher in a new age of cloaking devices years from now.

The experiment comes as a number of research facilities have announced similar success in cloaking objects. Previous efforts rendered objects invisible along a plane, in two dimensions, by bending microwaves around the objects. Last year, researchers demonstrated an invisibility cloak that worked in three dimensions, concealing a bump on a reflective surface.

“We realize a shell that scatters [light] by itself, but the interesting point is that if you combine the shell with the object inside, the two counter out and the object becomes completely invisible,” Ms. Alu said.

It remains unclear whether the experiment will usher in a new era of cloaking devices for the U.S. military. Researchers in New York reported in 2008 that they had created a paper-thin material that absorbs 99.955 percent of the light that hits it. More recently, a team at Cornell University, with support from DARPA, the Pentagon’s out-there research arm, managed to hide an event for 40 picoseconds. In addition, researchers at the University of Texas, Dallas, last year harnessed the mirage effect to make objects vanish.

The U.S. Department of Defense has expressed interest in the technology in recent years, funding various projects throughout the U.S. One obvious use of the technology would be use it to hide a tank, submarines or battleships, say researchers familiar with the technology.