Simple, broadband, optical spatial cloaking of very large objects

TL;DR

This paper presents three simple, passive optical cloaking devices capable of hiding very large objects across the entire visible spectrum, with potential applications in concealing satellites within a limited viewing angle.

Contribution

Introduction of three scalable, broadband, passive optical cloaks that hide large objects over a wide volume using off-the-shelf components.

Findings

Cloaks hide objects exceeding 10^8 mm^3

Effective over the entire visible spectrum

Suitable for small field-of-view applications like satellites

Abstract

We demonstrate three simple cloaking devices that can hide very large spatial objects over the entire visible spectrum using only passive, off-the-shelf optics. The cloaked region for all of the devices exceeds 10^6 mm3 with the largest exceeding 10^8 mm3. Although uni-directional, these cloaks can hide the cloaked object, even if the object is transversely or self-illuminated. Owing to the small usable solid angle, but simple scaling, these cloaks may be of value in hiding small field-of-view objects such as mid- to high-earth orbit satellites.