Scientists are one step closer to developing Harry Potter's invisibility cloak. They have created an ultra-thin, minuscule cloth covered with microscopic gold blocks, making it invisible to human eyes.
In order that we see an object, there must be presence of light, which scatters as it bounces off the surface of an object. The distorted light can then be detected by our eyes. The invisibility cloak stops the bouncing and distortion of light. The cloak's surface redirects light waves and made it invisible to optical detection. As a result the object is rendered invisible.
The tiny cloak under the current experiment is only 80 nanometres thick, which makes it possible to scale up for larger objects for practical, everyday use. Invisibility may no longer be magical anymore and it may become a reality in the near future. There are many possible applications, including military stealth aircraft or army apparel. Perhaps window frames can be coated with invisibility materials so that all houses will have unobstructed views of the scenery outside.
| JPC Monthly Newsletter | |
| Editor： | Police Public Relations Branch, 11/F Arsenal House, Police Headquarters, No. 1 Arsenal Street, Wan Chai, HK. |
| Tel： | 2860 6157 |
| Fax： | 2200 4304 |
| JPC homepage： | http://www.hkpjpc.org.hk |
| Police homepage： | http://www.police.gov.hk |