New invisible material created by light

- Invisibility cloak may not yet come true, but a method of creating light-based materials, in the near future, could be used to create this cloak. the scientist said.

Picture 1 of New invisible material created by light

The new technique involves the creation of materials by building up a mass of only one billionth of a meter (the width of a DNA strand) and controlling the flow of light. This artificial material can bend light in a certain way that makes objects invisible, according to a new study published Monday in the journal Nature Communications.

Light shines on the object, then it is absorbed or reflected, making the object visible to the human eye. But the metamaterial controls the light that makes an object "invisible" or looks like something else. The material could be used from anything humanly perceptible (eg, drugs, explosives) to stealth applications in the military, the researchers said.

However, stealth must first be made on a small scale before being implemented on larger devices.

A team of researchers from the University of Cambridge, England, used laser light as a needle to sew gold nanoparticles. They stacked the filaments overlap like LEGO blocks. This helps to produce more materials than is currently being used.