Harry Potter’s cloak

All this time there has been talks of making an invisibility cloak and it has been said that it is possible but now it is done.

A working design of the cloak has been made.

The Purdue University engineers, following mathematical guidelines devised in 2006 by physicists in the United Kingdom, have created a theoretical design that uses an array of tiny needles radiating outward from a central spoke.

The design, which resembles a round hairbrush, would bend light around the object being cloaked. Background objects would be visible but not the object surrounded by the cylindrical array of nano-needles, said Vladimir Shalaev, Purdue’s Robert and Anne Burnett Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

“What we propose is the cloaking of objects of any shape and size” Shalaev said.

But there are limitations
It works only under a single wavelength,not under the whole visible spectrum.
“How to create a design that works for all colors of visible light at the same time will be a big technical challenge, but we believe it’s possible” he said. “It is clearly doable. In principle, this cloak could be arbitrarily large, as large as a person or an aircraft.”
Presently the cloaking can be used under night vision goggles which works under a single wavelength and for other military purposes.
And it may reflect a small amount of light from the surface but it is said that this can be taken care of by using anti reflective coatings etc.

For more information goto the Purdue university page

I feel this a leap towards complete transparency and I wonder how long it will take for every one of us to go and get a Harry Potter cloak at the nearest store.