Metamaterials and the mathematical Science of invisibility

TL;DR

This paper reviews recent advances in metamaterials enabling optical cloaking and illusions, highlighting the role of transformational optics and finite element simulations in understanding invisibility phenomena.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of how metamaterials and transformational optics are used to achieve invisibility and optical illusions, supported by computational illustrations.

Findings

Metamaterials enable cloaking and mirages in photonics.

Transformational optics is key to designing invisibility devices.

Finite element methods illustrate optical illusion phenomena.

Abstract

In this chapter, we review some recent developments in the field of photonics: cloaking, whereby an object becomes invisible to an observer, and mirages, whereby an object looks like another one (say, of a different shape). Such optical illusions are made possible thanks to the advent of metamaterials, which are new kinds of composites designed using the concept of transformational optics. Theoretical concepts introduced here are illustrated by finite element computations.