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WASHINGTON – Top scientists in Israel are on the verge of a revolutionary breakthrough, creating a cloak that can render a person invisible. In their real-world quest for invisibility, scientists at Ben-Gurion University have developed a device that scatters light away from an object so it cannot be detected, making the object invisible to the eye. Physicists developed the method for concealing objects based on the study of “metamaterials,” which focuses on exploiting and controlling light by examining how it interacts with objects. Those arrays of minuscule components bend, scatter, transmit or otherwise shape electromagnetic radiation in ways that no...

Inspired perhaps by Harry Potter's invisibility cloak, scientists have recently developed several ways—some simple and some involving new technologies—to hide objects from view. The latest effort, developed at the University of Rochester, not only overcomes some of the limitations of previous devices, but it uses inexpensive, readily available materials in a novel configuration. "There've been many high tech approaches to cloaking and the basic idea behind these is to take light and have it pass around something as if it isn't there, often using high-tech or exotic materials," said John Howell, a professor of physics at the University of Rochester....

Durham, NC -- A team led by scientists at Duke University's Pratt School of Engineering has demonstrated the first working "invisibility cloak." The cloak deflects microwave beams so they flow around a "hidden" object inside with little distortion, making it appear almost as if nothing were there at all. Cloaks that render objects essentially invisible to microwaves could have a variety of wireless communications or radar applications, according to the researchers. The team reported its findings on Thursday, Oct. 19, in Science Express, the advance online publication of the journal Science. The research was funded by the Intelligence Community Postdoctoral...

A Star Trek-style "cloaking device" has been built using technology developed to make objects invisible. The "cloak", based on a British design concept, measures less than five inches across and only responds to radar waves. But within five years there might be devices powerful enough to make whole vehicles "vanish" - including battlefield tanks. An invisibility cloak blueprint was produced in May by Professor Sir John Pendry, a physicist at Imperial College London. Just five months later, scientists working with him in the US have put the idea into practice. The concept involves bending visible light, or other forms of...

Researchers in the US and Britain have unveiled their blueprints for building a cloaking device. So far, cloaking has been confined to science fiction; in Star Trek it is used to render spacecraft invisible. Professor Sir John Pendry says a simple demonstration model that could work for radar might be possible within 18 months' time. In the journal Science two separate teams, including Professor Pendry's, have outlined ways to cloak objects . These research papers present the maths required to verify that the concept could work. But developing an invisibility cloak is likely to pose significant challenges. Both groups propose...

Scientists have taken the first steps towards creating a Harry Potter-style cloak of invisibility. Professor John Pendry, from Imperial College London, said that it may not take long to develop an invisible fabric - assuming there is sufficient research into the technology. "If there is adequate funding, I'd have thought it would take in the order of five years," he said. "You could build a shed out of this material and drive a tank in there, or a motor car, or hold a party inside it, and once you close the door everything it contains would be completely invisible." The...

High-tech cloaking machines could one day render very small objects nearly invisible and perhaps improve military stealth technology, scientists said Monday. The idea is straight out of science fiction -- cloaking technology made Romulan spaceships disappear in Star Trek. A humble version of the device could become a reality, according to Nader Engheta and Andrea Alu of the University of Pennsylvania. But don't expect to hide yourself or your spaceship anytime soon, at least not in the standard sense of invisible. In practical terms, the research is more likely to lead to improved technical and research devices, and even these...

NEW YORK - A University of Tokyo professor claims he and his research team have developed a system that can make you 'invisible.' Engineering Professor Susumu Tachi is in the early stages of technology that he says will eventually enable camouflaged objects to be virtually transparent by wearing an optical device. Professor Tachi demonstrated the technology on Wednesday. In a photo of graduate student Kazutoshi Obana, it appears as if three men walking in the background can be seen 'through' Obana's green overcoat. The retroreflective material of the coat acts as a screen and gives a transparent - or invisible...