Inspired perhaps by Harry Potter’s invisibility cloak, scientists have recently developed several ways—some simple and some involving new technologies—to hide objects from view. The latest effort, developed at the University of Rochester, not only overcomes some of the limitations of previous devices, but also uses inexpensive, readily available materials in a novel configuration.

Dr. John Howell of the Department of Physics and Astronomy and graduate student Joseph Choi developed a combination of four standard lenses that keeps the object hidden as the viewer moves up to several degrees away from the optimal viewing position. Dr. Howell, Dr. Choi, and the University of Rochester were awarded a patent for the Rochester Cloak lens configuration entitled “Paraxial Cloak Design and Device” (US 9,557,547 B2) by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on January 31, 2017.