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Physicists Create An Optical Invisibility Cloak

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Taking a page from Harry Potter with his invisibility cloak, physicists at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in Germany, believe they found a way to create an optical invisibility cloak from diffused scattered light. Diffused scattered light -  like fog, frosted window panes or clouds - lets light in but hides the light source.

The physicists set up an experiment to test the theory. They filled a plexiglas tank with a white, cloudy thick liquid. Then, they placed simple, small metal cylinders painted with white dispersion paint  inside the plexiglass tank and illuminated it with back lighting. By doing this, the metal cylinders inside the tank cast a shadow on the tank wall.  But, to pass the light around the metal cylinders, the physicists applied a transparent silicon material with light-scattering melamine microparticles which created a thin shell around the cylinders

The silicon shell around the cylinders caused a faster diffusion of light, meaning it passed the light around the cylinders or cloaked them, and they didn't cast a shadow anymore. According to Robert Schittny, an author of the study, the disappearance of the shadow indicates successful cloaking.

“We will have to wait a long time for real applications, but it might be possible to produce frosted glass panes for bathrooms with integrated invisible metal bars or sensors to deter burglary," adds Schittny.