UT Researchers patent new Cloaking technology

Invisibility cloaks, something that seems science fiction, but some University of Texas researchers are making it a reality. "Cloaking" was first introduced back in 2006. But, last week: UT patented a new invisibility cloak design.

There are currently several different techniques being tested across the world to cloak the visibility of an object which hasn’t happened yet, but Assistant Professor Andrea Alu, and his team have successfully masked the visibility of an object on a microwave level. ”This is important for current radio communication systems, cell phone towers, where several antennas are placed in proximity and they interact and interfere,” said Professor Alu.

Alu and Postdoctoral Research Fellow Jason Soric are the masterminds behind the new technology. For us, that means faster internet, Wi-Fi and satellites. Dropped phone calls, and bad service could be a thing of the past.
               
Businesses, federal law enforcement and government programs have also shown interest, as radio communications, and phone calls could go completely off the radar. “There are companies actually that are interested in exploring how these radio transparent objects can be used in their purposes, especially in the communication world. There is a lot of need for systems that can transmit and receive without creating interference or blockage,” Professor Alu said.

The new cloaking could also be applied in health care, weather tracking allowing sensors to pick up stronger signals for more accurate data. “We're not going to cloak spaceships anytime in the near future but there are also plenty of other things that you don't think about,” Soric said.

While cloaking people and objects are way far into the future, the researchers said it is a step in the right direction.