Military Seeks Invisibility Cloak
Associated Press | May, 25, 2006
WASHINGTON - Imagine an invisibility cloak that works just like the one
Harry Potter inherited from his father.
Researchers in England and the United States think they know how to do
that. They are laying out the blueprint and calling for help in developing
the exotic materials needed to build a cloak.
The keys are special manmade materials, unlike any in nature or the
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. These materials are intended
to steer light and other forms of electromagnetic radiation around an
object, rendering it as invisible as something tucked into a hole in space.
"Is it science fiction? Well, it's theory and that already is not science
fiction. It's theoretically possible to do all these Harry Potter things,
but what's standing in the way is our engineering capabilities," said John
Pendry, a physicist at the Imperial College London.
Details of the study, which Pendry co-wrote, appear in Thursday's online
edition of the journal Science.
Scientists not involved in the work said it presents a solid case for
making invisibility an attainable goal.
"This is very interesting science and a very interesting idea and it is
supported on a great mathematical and physical basis," said Nader Engheta,
a professor of electrical and systems engineering at the University of
Pennsylvania. Engheta has done his own work on invisibility using novel
materials called "metamaterials."
Pendry and his co-authors also propose using metamaterials because they
can be tuned to bend electromagnetic radiation - radio waves and visible
light, for example - in any direction.
A cloak made of those materials, with a structure designed down to the
submicroscopic scale, would neither reflect light nor cast a shadow.
Instead, like a river streaming around a smooth boulder, light and all
other forms of electromagnetic radiation would strike the cloak and simply
flow around it, continuing on as if it never bumped up against an
obstacle. That would give an onlooker the apparent ability to peer right
through the cloak, with everything tucked inside concealed from view.
"Yes, you could actually make someone invisible as long as someone wears a
cloak made of this material," said Patanjali Parimi, a Northeastern
University physicist and design engineer at Chelton Microwave in Bolton,
Massachusetts. Parimi was not involved in the research.
Such a cloak does not exist, but early versions that could mask microwaves
and other forms of electromagnetic radiation could be as close as 18
months away, Pendry said. He said the study was "an invitation to come and
play with these new ideas."
"We will have a cloak after not too long," he said.
The Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency supported the
research, given the obvious military applications of such stealthy
technology.
While Harry Potter could wear his cloak to skulk around Hogwarts, a
real-world version probably would not be something just to be thrown on,
Pendry said.
"To be realistic, it's going to be fairly thick. 'Cloak' is a misnomer.
'Shield' might be more appropriate," he said.
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