Researchers at the University of Rochester have come up with a new invention to hide any object from view without distorting the background by using simple, inexpensive materials.
Movie fantasies have played a vital role in technological development as scientists get inspired by new ideas and try to give them a practical perspective. In one such case, J.K Rowling's popular fantasy series Harry Potter inspired many scientists to try new things like the popular invisibility cloak.
Courtesy of the scientists at the University of Rochester, a new technology can hide almost anything from sight using inexpensive and readily available lenses.
John Howell, a professor of physics at the University of Rochester, and a doctoral student Joseph Choi found a new technique of cloaking , where the objects in line of sight go invisible without disturbing the background. The Rochester Cloak, as it is called, simply uses a four-lens system that bends light around the objects placed between the chain of sight to show the background as normal.
Previous efforts at developing such a technology have been very expensive unsuccessful efforts. The end result hasn't been at its best.
"This is the first device that we know of that can do three-dimensional, continuously multidirectional cloaking, which works for transmitting rays in the visible spectrum," Choi, a PhD student at Rochester's Institute of Optics, said in the university's official press release.
Howell and Choi successfully tested the cloaking system on a hand, a face, a ruler and a pen. Each of the devices became invisible when it crossed the range between the lenses. The test was done using small lenses but it can be scaled up with large lenses. The application of the new technology is endless, as Howell notes, it can be used by a surgeon to "look through his hands to what he is actually operating on."
"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 told Reuters. "It can be used for surgery, in the military, in interior design, art."
The university has filed a patent for the technology, but simple instructions on how to build a Rochester Cloak are shared. The original cost to build the cloak was $1,000 but Howell and Choi said the cost can be significantly brought down to under $100 with the right use of materials.
