Harry Potter inspired invisibility cloak pioneered by scientists

Harry Potter and Ron Weasley in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Warner Brothers)

Invisibility cloaks are usually found in the fictional world of Harry Potter, but researchers in the US claim to have created one.

The cloak is just milometres thick but works in microwave light, making 3D items invisible from all directions.

Researchers from the University of Texas, who have presented their findings in the New Journal of Physics, say that the cloak is comprised of a 0.15mm layer called a metascreen.

The cloak consists of copper strips attached to flexible polycarbonate film, which scientists say can conceal an 18cm cylindrical rod.

Professor Andrea Alu, one of the authors of the study, said “When the scattered fields from the cloak and the object interfere, they cancel each other out and the overall effect is transparency and invisibility at all angles of observation.”

There is hope that the cloak can be developed to work in visible light. “In principle this technique could also be used to cloak light,” said Professor Alu.