For years, the "invisible cloak" has been a popular feature in sci-fi blockbusters. Now, with the development of a fully functional "invisible shield," this futuristic technology has become a reality. A British tech company uses a special array of lenses to redirect light, making any object or person hiding behind it "invisible."
London-based startups have successfully developed "invisible shields".
London-based startup InvisiblityShield Co reportedly uses a special array of lenses to redirect light, making any object or person hiding behind it "invisible." So far, the company has developed 25 fully functional shields, and the team is raising funds to develop more on Kickstarter.
The company said the research team went through countless iterations, tested many materials, and experienced many failures to finally succeed in developing a reliable, scalable and efficient manufacturing process and creating "the best invisible shield ever."
The success story of the "invisible shield".
It is reported that the "invisible shield" uses a special array of lenses to divert most of the light reflected by the object or person hiding behind it from the observer, passing it from the side through the surface of the shield to the left and right.
Since the lenses in this array are vertically oriented, the vertically oriented bands of light reflected by the standing/crouching object spread out horizontally as they pass through the back of the shield and soon become very dispersed.
In contrast, the light reflected from the background is much brighter and wider, so as it passes through the back of the shield, more light is refracted in the direction of the shield and the observer.
This means that from the observer's point of view, the background light is horizontally "smeared" on the shield, blocking the area where the subject is normally visible.
Schematic diagram of how the Invisible Shield works. The Invisible Shield uses a special array of lenses to divert most of the light reflected by the object or person hiding behind it from the observer, passing it from the side through the surface of the shield to the left and right.
To develop the shield, the team tested a variety of different lens shapes with different angles, depths, contours, and separation distances. The final iteration is characterized by an elongated convex lens that runs parallel on the polymer sheet.
The company says the materials used to make the shields are UV resistant, resistant to high temperatures and very durable. In a uniform context, such as grass, leaves, sand and sky, shields have the best stealth performance.
A small stealth shield measuring 12x8 inches is currently priced at £49, while the 37x25-inch full-size option is currently priced at £299.
Text/Nandu reporter Chen Lin