I have a new article published in New Scientist this week (issue 2621).

INVISIBILITY cloaks that work at optical wavelengths are a step closer to reality thanks to a different take on the problem.
In previous attempts fiendishly small structures had to be precisely positioned in the cloaking material. However, super-thin layers of much simpler stuff should do the trick.

Invisibility cloaks burst into the public consciousness last year, when a transatlantic team unveiled both the theory and a working device. Engineering constraints only allowed them to construct a cloak that could hide a very small object at microwave wavelengths, as confirmed by a microwave detector, and they warned that to achieve the same feat at optical wavelengths would require an extremely difficult leap in miniaturisation.

Now, Yijun Feng, a physicist from Nanjing University, China, and colleagues are trying a new approach that significantly reduces the complexity of the cloaking fabric. To cloak an object from light...

The complete article is 566 words long and can be read on the web here but a subscription is required.

The original paper that triggered this story is here.