Invisibility cloaks - Will we ever really have them?

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Sr John Pendry models Chris Phillips' invisibility jacket whil chris walks behind him

Scientists have succeeded in 'cloaking'.

You've seen the films, you've read the popular science stories. It's time to ask: when will you have your invisibility cloak? Hold your horses. It's looking like a great many things inspired by cloaking science will come to pass before then... It is a simple idea whose scientific foundations are dizzyingly complex. At its simplest, explains John Pendry [Physics] of Imperial College London, 'you just want to grab hold of the light coming from an object, guide light around the hidden thing, and then return it to the path it was going on originally.'"

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19661503

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20265623

Listen to Professor John Pendry explain the theory behind the invisibility cloak in the 25th Schrödinger lecture:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogNKrQCH1Kk&feature=plcp

Reporter

Caroline Jackson

Caroline Jackson
Department of Physics

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Contact details

Email: press.office@imperial.ac.uk
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