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How Harry Potter can see others from within his invisibility cloak

Washington: A Chinese researcher has proposed a way to develop an "anti-cloak" that will, in theory, enable people underneath an invisibility cloak to see. Huanyang Chen, who conducted the research together with his colleagues at Shanghai Jiao Tong University and The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, says that an invisible person should ordinarily be unable to see outside because no light can penetrate a perfect cloak. He, however, insists that the cloaking effect of the invisibility cloak can be partially cancelled, so that the person underneath does not become blind. The researcher says that such an "anti-cloak" can be made from a material whose optical properties are perfectly matched to those of an invisibility cloak. He says that while an invisibility cloak would bend light around an object, any region that came into contact with the anti-cloak would guide some light back so that it became visible. According to him, this would allow an invisible observer to see the outside by pressing a layer of anti-cloak material in contact with an invisibility cloak. "With the anti-cloak, (Harry) Potter can see outside if he wants to," says Chen.
-Sept 4, 2008

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