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[ruchir]

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/08/11/invisibility.cloak.ap/index.html


Scientists say they're closer to invisibility material

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Scientists say they are a step closer to developing materials that could render people and objects invisible.


In this 2003 photo, Tokyo University students use space-age material to make this student appear see-through.

Researchers have demonstrated for the first time they were able to cloak three-dimensional objects using artificially engineered materials that redirect light around the objects.

Previously, they only have been able to cloak very thin two-dimensional objects.

The findings, by scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, are to be released later this week in the journals Nature and Science.

The new work moves scientists a step closer to hiding people and objects from visible light, which could have broad applications, including military ones.

People can see objects because they scatter the light that strikes them, reflecting some of it back to the eye.

Cloaking uses materials, known as metamaterials, to deflect radar, light or other waves around an object.

Metamaterials are mixtures of metal and circuit board materials such as ceramic, Teflon or fibre composite.

[Blwe_torch]

I think the US stealth bombers use a similar technology.

[ruchir]

Yup... the "wrap the light around the place" technology. Another thing in Stealth is that it absorbs radar pings. Radar is able to identify a place when it's pings hit the plane body and travel back to the radar. Stealth absorbs those pings, which makes it invisible on radar.