Invisibility cloaking has been embedded in sci-fi and literary fiction from Star Trek to James Bond and perhaps most memorably, the invisibility cloak of Harry Potter. In science the theoretical means of invisibility was proposed in the 1960’s by Russian physicist Victor Veselago who proposed materials coined metamaterials or left handed materials as they have the unusual property of having a negative refractive index. Recent work both overseas and at ANU in Australia have shown in the lab how meta materials can be used to cloak microwaves. This technology is a long way from being able to purchase invisibility clothing at K Mart, but if developments in physics and nanotechnology continue the invisibility cloak may one day be more than just science fiction!
- 06/06/2007 -
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