Invisibility materials may be seen soon

BERKELEY, Calif., Aug. 10 (UPI) -- California researchers have engineered materials that can be invisible to the eye, a scientist said.

The Berkeley work is being funded by the U.S. military and follows up on work done by the Imperial College London that similarly was able to control light's direction of travel, reported the Sunday Times of London. Science and Nature journals are expected to give full results this week.

Xiang Zhang, a research leader, confirmed that the research is aimed at creating invisible objects.

"In the case of invisibility cloaks or shields, the material would need to curve light waves completely around the object like a river flowing around a rock," he said.

Theoretically an observer looking at an object cloaked in the material under development would only see light from behind it. This disappearance could create a wide variety of potential military "cloaking" uses, although practical applications could not be expected for years, say experts.