Is Quantum Stealth Camouflage Real or Just Another Misreported Discovery?

[FalconOne]

"Quantum Stealth" Camouflage

This is what happens when people don't understand science. This article has been everywhere. "A Canadian company called Hyperstealth is reporting that it has developed Quantum Stealth, a material that renders the target “completely invisible by bending light waves around the target.” If the mock-up photos are to be believed, Quantum Stealth basically works like Harry Potter’s invisibility cloak."

Of course, the company won't tell you anything about it, saying that it's "top secret". Us physicists couldn't figure it out, but some guy perfected invisibility cloaks without any other help!

http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/143353-canadian-camouflage-company-claims-to-have-created-perfect-invisibility-cloak-us-military-soon-to-be-invisible

 

[Simon Bridge]

Looking at the pic, the person is lying on grass with the cloak over them. All you can see in the cloaked part is grass - presumably the grass that is under the person in question. If that were the case, then why is the grass not flattened to the shape of the person?

I'd also have to wonder how the cloak knows how far to bend the light: in the pic it somehow can tell to bend the light around the person but not around the blades of grass next to the person.

I've seen another pic of a person, holding the cloak in front of them, standing in front of a tree ... how does the cloak know to bend the light around the person and not the tree?

But I have a feeling the photos are supposed to be mock-ups rather than pictures of the product at work.
i.e. they are meaningless - ignore them.

I did find:
http://communionblog.wordpress.com/2012/12/16/hype-or-hyperstealth/
... which includes other references.

Note: military have been scammed by pseudoscience before ... so the claims of military interest and Pentagon backing don't have to mean anything. However - going by the sources above, it seems these claims have been exaggerated.

 

[FalconOne]

Well, physicists can only get it to work for a very small wavelength range, and typically in the IR region and we have been working on this for a long time. I highly doubt someone figured it out by himself.

 

[nitsuj]

If the mock-up photos are to be believed, Quantum Stealth basically works like Harry Potter’s invisibility cloak."

Perfect summation, I wonder if the marketing dept. will use you line "Basically works like Harry Potter's invisibility cloak."

 

[Simon Bridge]

physicists can only get it to work for a very small wavelength range, and typically in the IR region and we have been working on this for a long time

citation please!

Accepting above (for sake of argument) - I notice Hyperstealth Biotechnology claims it to be effective with UV as well.

 

[FalconOne]

http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2008/08/11_light.shtml

Microwaves. My apologizes.

 

[Simon Bridge]

While the researchers welcome these new developments in metamaterials at optical wavelengths, they also caution that they are still far off from invisibility cloaks and other applications that may capture the imagination. For instance, unlike the cloak made famous in the Harry Potter novels, the metamaterials described here are made of metal and are fragile.
-- off: http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2008/08/11_light.shtml

The Berkeley News item title (linked) is a bit misleading.
The Nature article (cited in the Berkeley News item) is about an innovation on meta-materials producing the effects of a (bulk) negative refractive index using nanowires. So the "it" in "physicists can only get it to work for a very small wavelength range" is the negative refractive index effect, not cloaking - which is the subject of post #1.

Nice link though.
Now I have a context ... see:
Schurig, D. et al. (2006). "Metamaterial Electromagnetic Cloak at Microwave Frequencies". Science 314 (5801): 977–80

 

[hxtasy]

another interesting thought, is that what may be camouflage to the human eye, may not be to electronic devices.

for example, just the way fabric reacts with infrared light, allows us to see through black clothing, or spot fabric camouflage in an environment where it would otherwise perfectly match its surroundings. and I am not talking about thermal imaging, or infrared from heat, i mean a regular CCD chip reacting with infrared light.

heres a poor example, there are more pics out there.

 

[mrspeedybob]

I'l believe it when I see it.

 

[Brennus]

with quantum stealth maybe the reason that it bends the light of the user when it has their body heat on it and it doesn't bend light around the objects it either isn't touching or doesn't read their body heat like the picture with the girl infront of the tree it doesn't read or isn't touching the tree so it will camouflage the girl not the tree.

 

[Simon Bridge]

See post #7. The pic is a fake... the reason it camoflages the girl not the tree is because the pic is a fake. The discovery being reported is not related to the picture. Normal media misreporting like quantum teleportation being reported as "beam me up scotty".