In the Harry Potter series of books and films, one of the titular character's greatest assets is an "invisibility cloak" which allows him and his friends to hide in plain sight. Since the franchise takes place in a fantasy world where magic is real, most people believe something like that could never exist in our reality.
However, that's not how researchers from the National Institute of Scientific Research in Canada felt, as their efforts might've actually cracked the technology. According to a report from News18, the Institute has taken a huge step forward when it comes to making invisibility a reality in our world.
Have Canadian Scientists Made A Huge Technological Breakthrough?
Over the years, there have been several attempts to design a device that could turn objects and even people invisible. Some scientists were able to make positive progress, but the tech has always failed to work across all spectrums of light. However, the new "spectral cloaking" device being developed by Canadian scientists works by canceling out the imprint an object leaves in a light wave after it passes through it.
The technology is based on the manipulation of the frequency of light waves as they pass through an object. The wave is manipulated and is revealed to be almost identical to the light wave on the other side, which causes an object to appear "invisible." This device even works in fully natural light.
To elaborate, Luis Romero Cortes, a researcher on the team, had the following to say about how the new tech differs from conventional cloaking solutions:
"Conventional cloaking solutions rely on altering the propagation path of the illumination around the object to be concealed; this way, different colors take different amounts of time to traverse the cloak, resulting in easily detectable distortion that gives away the presence of the cloak."
How Do Scientists Plan to Use This New Technology?
Obviously, this "invisibility cloak" could be used to sneak around the hallways of Hogwarts at night to learn more about the problems facing Harry Potter and his friends. However, scientists believe this technological breakthrough could be utilized to make 3D objects invisible in all directions, which opens the door for a lot of new ideas.
For instance, the team hopes to use the tech for a lot more than just hiding objects or people. There has been some speculation that experts are planning to use the device to create radar-proof