Making objects invisible for fun and profit

magic

While it sounds like magic only available in science fiction movies and fantasy stories, the possibility of making things invisible is coming more and more to reality all the time. Cloaking, which is the term for making objects disappear by making them invisible to the human eye or electromagnetic waves, is a rapidly developing technology.

Breakthrough

Already in 2006 this was ranked the number 5 breakthrough of the year by science magazine. The problem with this still theoretical technology was that it does not only make the cloaked object invisible, but by guiding the light waves around the object, effectively it also renders everything outside the cloaking device invisible to what's inside.

Bending light

These devices work by bending light around the object, which makes it impossible to see anything from the inside. Now scientists have come up with theories for building invisible tunnel for light, related to the idea of wormholes, making it possible to look trough a device without bending the light.
There's also a theory using a cloaking device as an anti-object.

more information about the invisibility cloak in the siam article:

http://dx.doi.org/10.1137/080716827

Applications

When I first heard about this I only thought about military applications, but there are many applications for making objects invisible.

Possible applications include surveillance systems, alarm systems, invisible camera's. But if this technology will ever be easy and cheap to mass produce the applications are endless. Imagine driving your car and looking trough it's body as if it's not there! No windows needed in your car will make it possible to structure it much more efficiently, safer and you'll be able to see everything around you, no dead spots anywhere. This will safe lives. Medical applications where you could look trough equipment would give a much better look on what your operating on.

Real estate

And think of the possibilities for real estate, if you want to buy a flat with a sea view you pay a lot. If you buy one close to the sea which has something blocking the view it's a lot cheaper. Use cloaking to remove the object blocking your view and boost property value. The possibilities are endless, I can't wait for the future to see this happening. Changes are we will all be looking at trees again in the future instead of ugly buildings.

My view

This is my view on the technology of tomorrow, I'll be regularly updating this site with my take on tech news and it's impact on the future.

comment

If you like to discuss this or if you have any ideas or another view on the subject, please leave a comment.