Editing Cloaking device (section)

{{Short description|Theoretical device to render objects invisible}}
{{For|cloaked devices as used in extended DOS device drivers|Helix Cloaking}}{{Multi image
| direction         = vertical
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| image1            = Cloaking device simulation (inactive).jpg
| image2            = Cloaking device simulation (active).jpg
| caption1          = Simulation of a hypothetical cloaking device. Normally, incident light waves on an object are absorbed or reflected, causing the object to appear visible.
| caption2          = With the cloaking device active, light is 'deflected' around the object to make it appear ''as if it did not exist'', rendering it invisible.
| alt1              = 
}}
A '''cloaking device''' is a hypothetical or fictional [[stealth technology]] that can cause objects, such as [[Spacecraft|spaceships]] or individuals, to be partially or wholly [[Invisibility|invisible]] to parts of the [[electromagnetic spectrum|electromagnetic (EM) spectrum]]. Fictional cloaking devices have been used as [[plot device]]s in various media for many years.

Developments in scientific research<ref name=CloakStep.NYT2006>{{cite news  |newspaper=[[The New York Times]]
   |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/20/science/20cloak.html
   |title=Scientists Take Step Toward Invisibility
   |author=John Schwartz |date=October 20, 2006}}</ref> show that real-world cloaking devices can obscure objects from at least one [[wavelength]] of EM emissions. Scientists already use artificial materials called [[metamaterial]]s to bend light around an object.<ref>Sledge, Gary. "Going Where No One Has Gone Before", ''Discovery Channel Magazine'' #3. {{ISSN|1793-5725}}</ref>  However, over the entire spectrum, a cloaked object scatters more than an uncloaked object.<ref name="monticone2013do">
{{Cite journal
 |author = Monticone, F.
 |author2 = Alù, A.
 |title = Do Cloaked Objects Really Scatter Less?
 |journal = Phys. Rev. X
 |year = 2013
 |volume = 3
 |issue = 4
 |pages = 041005
 |doi = 10.1103/PhysRevX.3.041005
 |arxiv = 1307.3996 |bibcode = 2013PhRvX...3d1005M |s2cid = 118637398
 }}
</ref>