A new “broadband” invisibility cloak which hides objects over a wide range of frequencies has been devised.

Despite the hype about Harry Potter-style cloaks, our best current designs can only conceal objects at specific wavelengths of light or microwaves.

At other frequencies, invisibility cloaks actually make things more visible, not less, US physicists found.

Their solution is a new ultrathin, electronic system, which they describe in Physical Review Letters.

“Our active cloak is a completely new concept and design, aimed at beating the limits of [current cloaks] and we show that it indeed does,” said Prof Andrea Alu, from the University of Texas at Austin.

“If you want to make an object transparent at all angles and over broad bandwidths, this is a good solution.

“We are looking into realising this technology at the moment, but we are still at the early stages.”

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