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An operational, non-fictional cloaking device might be an extension of the basic technologies used by stealth aircraft, such as radar-absorbing dark paint, optical camouflage, cooling the outer surface to minimize electromagnetic emissions (usually infrared), or other techniques to minimize other EM emissions, and to minimize particle emissions from the object.
Rochester Cloak is a cloaking device which can be built using inexpensive, everyday materials. John Howell, a professor of physics at the University of Rochester, and graduate student Joseph Choi developed the device, which features four standard lenses that allows an object to appear invisible as the viewer moves several degrees away from the optimal viewing positions.
Active camouflage technology, both visual and otherwise, is a commonly used plot device in science fiction stories. The Star Trek franchise incorporated the concept ("cloaking device"), and Star Trek: Voyager depicts humans using "bio-dampeners" to infiltrate a Borg Cube without the antagonists realizing they are there. [18]
Theories of cloaking discusses various theories based on science and research, for producing an electromagnetic cloaking device. Theories presented employ transformation optics , event cloaking, dipolar scattering cancellation, tunneling light transmittance, sensors and active sources, and acoustic cloaking .
Figuratively, a cloak may be anything that disguises or conceals something. In many science fiction franchises, such as Star Trek, there are cloaking devices, which provide a way to avoid detection by making objects appear invisible. A real device, albeit of limited capability, was demonstrated in 2006. [13]
The purpose of a cloaking device is to hide something, so that a defined region of space is invisibly isolated from passing electromagnetic fields (or sound waves), as with Metamaterial cloaking. [5] [13] Cloaking objects, or making them appear invisible with metamaterials, is roughly analogous to a magician's sleight of hand, or his tricks ...
Methods are typically based on implementing the theoretical techniques of transformation optics, which have given rise to several theories of cloaking. Currently, a practical cloaking device does not exist. [5] [6] A 2006 theoretical work predicts that the imperfections are minor, and metamaterials may make real-life "cloaking devices" practical.
However, cloaking a human-sized object at visible wavelengths appears to have low probability. [15] Indeed, there appears to be a fundamental problem with these devices as "invisibility cloaks": [16] It's not yet clear that you're going to get the invisibility that everyone thinks about with Star Trek cloaking device or the Harry Potter's cloak ...