Copper-based screen cloaks objects from microwaves

The development is claimed to be an advance on previous attempts at so-called cloaking devices that have been bulky.

Presenting their study today, 26 March, in the Institute of Physics and German Physical Society’s New Journal of Physics, the researchers, from the University of Texas at Austin, have used a new, ultrathin layer called a metascreen.

The metascreen cloak was made by attaching strips of 66µm-thick copper tape to a 100µm-thick, flexible polycarbonate film in a fishnet design. It was used to cloak an 18cm cylindrical rod from microwaves and is said to have shown optimal functionality when the microwaves were at a frequency of 3.6GHz and over a moderately broad bandwidth.

The researchers also predict that due to the inherent conformability (bendiness) of the metascreen and the robustness of the proposed cloaking technique, oddly shaped and asymmetrical objects can be cloaked with the same principles.

Objects are detected when waves – whether they are sound, light, x-rays or microwaves – rebound off its surface.