It may seem like pure fantasy, but a Harry Potter-style invisibility cloak is now a step closer to reality.
Scientists in Canada have created a cloaking device capable of making an object ‘fully’ invisible for the first time, even in natural light.
The ‘spectral cloaking’ device is different because it works by cancelling out the imprint an object leaves in a light wave that passes through it.
The energies of certain colours are shifted by a sheet of optical fibre as they hit the object.
As a result, the wave which reaches the observer is almost exactly the same as the wave on the other side, causing the object to appear ‘invisible’ in daylight.
As well as hiding people, researchers claim the breakthrough could pave the way for radar-proof aircraft and hack-proof internet cables.
