Scientists developing a cloaking device

First, a tractor beam and now, a cloaking device!  We’re getting even closer to the 23^rd century that probably most people expected.  Researchers in materials science at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have managed to build an ultrathin ‘invisibility cloak’, a thin film consisting of “50-nanometer-thick layer of magnesium fluoride, topped by a varying pattern of tiny, brick-shaped gold antennas, each 30 nanometers thick.

Before anyone starts thinking about the cloaking devices wielded by the Romulans and Klingons in Star Trek, the scientists have only used a tiny, irregularly shaped object measuring about 36 microns across and shining light at 730 nm wavelength.  And for this to work, the object must remain stationary.  So no Harry Potter and his Invisibility Cloak or alien from Pedator.

If you have a subscription to Science Magazine, you can read the whole article here.

http://www.sciencemag.org/content/349/6254/1310