Chinese, Singaporean team develops cloaking device

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2013-11-03

The glass device makes part of a pencil disappear. (Internet photo)

A joint Chinese and Singaporean research team have developed an "invisibility cloak" using polygonal devices with glass, reports China's state-run Xinhua News Agency.

Professor Chen Hongsheng of the Electromagnetics Academy of Zhejiang University and a research team from Singapore's Nanyang Technological University successfully made a goldfish and a cat disappear with the new light-bending technology.

The device can hide objects and organisms such as a cat, and they can also move along with the device without affecting their invisibility, said Chen.

The invisibility cloak is created by thin panels of glass that make objects invisible by bending light around them. The technology is still rudimentary as it is most effective when the light comes from a single angle. The cloak can also only make objects invisible in a narrow spectrum of light, the professor said.

His team along with the Singaporean University have attempted to simplify the technology. They found human eyes are not sensitive to light's phase and minute delay, and chose to use glass to make the device because it is transparent, has a smooth surface, can be obtained easily and does not need to be processed with nanotechnology.

The team used a hexagonal device, which is most effective when light is shone directly at six angles, while the polygonal device can only make objects invisible at two angles. The teams published their complete research results on online multidisciplinary journal Nature Communication last month.

Chen said the devices can be used in the field of security, entertainment and surveillance, adding that the research teams will continue to enhance the devices invisibility and reduce their weight.