Now You See It and Now You Don't

Ever since the days of Houdini, the master magician, people have been trying to emulate ways of becoming invisible and disappearing out of thin air. This quest for finding a way to appear invisible to the human eye has been going on for years, in which scientists have tried to develop invisibility cloaks that project the images around them. However, it seems most, if not all, of these developments have failed in some way until now.

Since last November there has been announcements of an "invisibility shield", created by David R. Smith of Duke University and colleagues. The researches have managed to divert microwaves around what they are calling a "hole in space". What is unique about these structures is that it can manipulate electromagnetic radiation, which includes light, in certain ways so that it will not be visible in nature. How is this possible? Through the usage of metamaterials. Metamaterials can have the unique ability to affect electromagnetic waves which it interacts with, as long as the structural features are smaller than the wavelenght of the electromagnetic radiation it interacts with. For visible light, the structures are generally half or less than half the size of visible light (less than 280 nanometers). So in effect light waves are transmitted around the area, creating a hole, in which an object can be placed and become invisible.

The research groups has been able to successfully experiment at microwave frequencies, due to the already established techniques. Now the only question becomes whether it will be able to eliminate the reflection of visible light. Only time will tell as David R. Smith and his colleagues continue their research in this innovative method to "shield" objects from visible light.