invisibilitycloaksfactorfiction.docVIP

Invisibility Cloaks: Fact or Fiction? ‘So-wI yICHU!’ As any trekkie fluent in Klingon will recognise, the command to engage a Bird-of-Prey’s cloaking device provides tactical advantage in evading an attack or preparing for one. Clearly a handy trick, invisibility has featured heavily in fiction, but proven elusive in reality. In the last decade however, remarkable progress has been made in the field of invisibility science. Although scientists are not at the stage where they can render a spaceship invisible, in this essay I will show that enough has been accomplished through experimental realisation of invisibility theory to recognise it as a definite fact of reality. Traditionally, invisibility is defined as the state of being imperceptible to the eye. Light that is reflected off the multiple facets of a complex object is interpreted by the brain to form an image. It follows that to conquer invisibility, one must become master of this scattered light. While the eye can be tricked, in certain conditions, using optical illusions and camouflage, a true and perfect invisibility cloak should not reflect light or absorb energy, it should be insensitive to the polarisation and colour of visible light and the angle of observation. Theoretical models present this ideal of ‘pure’ invisibility, but most experimental realisations are subject to the practical limitations of current manufacturing technology which means that the demonstration cannot always be performed with ideal parameters. However, these experiments are undeniable proof of the theory and can be expanded as engineering catches up. Harry Potter style fiction suggests that to render an object invisible, one must cover it with a magical material. Obligingly, scientists have developed metamaterials. These materials are artificially engineered to possess micro-structures that produce optical properties not found in nature, such as negative refraction. The material needed to make an ideal invisibility