Refractive index profile and corresponding ray-tracing image of the simplified cloak. (Credit: J.C. Halimeh, T. Ergin, J. Mueller, N. Stenger, and M. Wegener. Photorealistic images of carpet cloaks. Optics Express, 2009; 17 (22): 19328 DOI: 10.1364/OE.17.019328)

ScienceDaily (Nov. 13, 2009) — Scientists and curiosity seekers who want to know what a partially or completely cloaked object would look like in real life can now get their wish — virtually. A team of researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany has created a new visualization tool that can render a room containing such an object, showing the visual effects of such a cloaking mechanism and its imperfections.

To illustrate their new tool, the researchers have published an article in the latest issue of Optics Express, the Optical Society’s (OSA) open-access journal, with a series of full-color images.

These images show a museum nave with a large bump in the reflecting floor covered by an invisibility device known as the carpet cloak. They reveal that even as an invisibility cloak hides the effect of the bump, the cloak itself is apparent due to surface reflections and imperfections. The researchers call this the "ostrich effect" — in reference to the bird’s mythic penchant for partial invisibility.

"It’s important to visualize how an optical device works," explains Jad C. Halimeh, a Master of Science graduate of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany who wrote and tested the new software as part of his Master’s thesis.

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