Almost every kid and far too many adults wish to remain invisible, just the way they sometimes show it in the movies. Many scientists have tried in vain to discover a way through which objects and persons can be turned invisible.
This time around, scientists at the University of Texas have come very close to making that a possibility by playing with what is known as the “plasmonic cloaking”, in order to hide an 18 centimeter tube from microwaves. What this actually means is that the tube still remained visible to the naked eye, but could be hidden from microwave scanners. Eventually, the scientists may be able to find a way in which objects can be made invisible to the naked eyes as well. The research paper was published in the Institute of Physics and German Physical Society’s New Journal of Physics and is the first time a three-dimensional object suspended in free space was cloaked. This brings the idea of invisibility cloak a step closer to reality.
The science behind invisible technology is that when lights hits an object, rays are bounced back and when these particles reach our eyes, the brain processes the information and we see objects. However, plasmonic cloaking renders this process ineffective as particles get scattered instead of bouncing back. This leads to a state of transparency, where objects appear invisible and you could see through them, as if they didn’t exist at all. The technology is very new but researchers hope to develop it further.
You could also go ahead and take a look at the Invisible Skoda Car and the Invisible Wearing Instruments which we had featured sometime ago. Invisibility technology may have serious applications in military establishments, laboratories and even medicines. However, the technology may not achieve the Hollywood-style invisibility, which perhaps shall remain fictitious for many more years.
