Quantum Stealth material designed to make target invisible

(Phys.org)—Scientists are exploring better methods of camouflage, a so-called scientific invisibility cloak, and news has spread fast about a Canadian company with substantial claims on how far they have come with camouflage ...

Thin, active invisibility cloak demonstrated for first time

(Phys.org) —Invisibility cloaking is no longer the stuff of science fiction: two researchers in The Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering have demonstrated an effective invisibility cloak ...

'Space-time cloak' to conceal events revealed in new study

(PhysOrg.com) -- The study, by researchers from Imperial College London, involves a new class of materials called metamaterials, which can be artificially engineered to distort light or sound waves. With conventional materials, ...

Scientists closer to making invisibility cloak a reality

J.K. Rowling may not have realized just how close Harry Potter's invisibility cloak was to becoming a reality when she introduced it in the first book of her best-selling fictional series in 1998. Scientists, however, have ...

page 1 from 13

Invisibility

Invisibility is the state of an object that cannot be seen. An object in this state is said to be invisible (literally, "not visible"). The term is usually used as a fantasy/science fiction term, where objects are literally made unseeable by magical or technological means; however, its effects can also be seen in the real world, particularly in physics and perceptional psychology.

Since objects can be seen by light in the visible spectrum from a source reflecting off their surfaces and hitting the viewer's eye, the most natural form of invisibility (whether real or fictional) is an object that neither reflects nor absorbs light (that is, it allows light to pass through it). In nature, this is known as transparency, and is seen in many naturally occurring materials (although no naturally occurring material is 100% transparent).

Visibility also depends on the eyes of the observer and/or the instruments used. Thus an object can be classified as "invisible to" a person, animal, instrument, etc. In the research of sensorial perception invisibility has been shown to happen in cycles.

Invisibility is often considered the supreme form of camouflage, as it doesn't show any kind of vital, visual, nor any of the frequencies of the electromagnetic spectrum such as radio, infrared, ultra violet, etc.

This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA