Invisibility cloaks might have been imagined at Hogwarts, but scientists have proven that such technology is feasible, and Tuesday, Jichun Li of the University of Nevada-Las Vegas visited the University to teach students and professors his approach to designing them.
Li’s talk focused on metamaterials, artificial materials that bend light and sound waves in patterns not found in nature. According to Li, the properties of metamaterials allow technologies built from them to accomplish tasks typical devices cannot. These functions include shock absorption, shielding buildings from earthquakes and cloaking visible objects.
“There’s a lot of great technology that’s been made from these materials,” Li said.
The first true instance of near-perfect cloaking occurred in 2006, when a British scientist named John Pendry manipulated the structure of metamaterials so that light bent and traveled around the object it covered until it was no longer visible to the human eye.
Li said Pendry’s technology was too small for practical use, but that scientists are close to evolving his invention. Li emphasized that taking a multidisciplinary approach to the design of the device will be instrumental in fully realizing the technology.
“All kinds of engineers have found uses for these materials since then,” Li said.
Li himself has studied cloak models extensively, and has formulated multiple equations for differently shaped objects.
“I got the idea to make these models after I saw a talk on cloaking — math can solve real problems,” Li said.
While efforts to create a full-fledged invisibility cloak have not yet come to fruition, many organizations have developed similar stealth technologies.
In 2011, the U.S. military pioneered a thermal stealth technology called Adaptiv that allows tanks to travel past infrared night vision cameras and devices without being detected. University professors Jonathan Dowling and Hwang Lee have since improved this technology by studying the energy harvesting properties of photonic crystals and applying them to subsequent stealth devices.
Li said he hoped his talk would inspire University students to action and to fuel their interest in the practical applications of math and science. He said he believes that further research of metamaterials will expedite the release of commercial cloaking technology, as will engaging young people and involving them in the process.
Many of the talk’s spectators attended the talk as skeptics, but left feeling inspired. Victoria Layne, biological sciences senior, was particularly optimistic.
“If we can make things invisible, I think we can pretty much do anything,” Layne said.
Alyssa Levisee, chemical engineering sophomore, agreed with this sentiment, and has already made plans to obtain one when they become commercially available.
“They’ll probably be really expensive, but I definitely still want one,” Levisee said.
“I got the idea to make these models after I saw a talk on cloaking – math can solve real problems.”