A true invisibility cloak, however, must be able to hide anything within the structure and work for all frequencies of visible light. The creation of such a device would be more difficult, but some physicists say it is possible. In 2006 John B. Pendry of Imperial College London and his colleagues showed that a shell of metamaterials could, in theory, reroute the electromagnetic waves traveling through it, diverting them around a spherical region within.

   
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR(S)
HARRY A. ATWATER is Howard Hughes Professor and Professor of Applied Physics and Materials Science at the California Institute of Technology. His research interests center on subwavelength-scale photonic devices for computing, imaging and renewable energy applications. In addition to devising plasmonic nanostructures, his group is actively exploring the use of new materials for solar power generation (photovoltaics), as well as the solar-driven generation of chemical fuels.