The inventor, Chu Junhao, a respected infrared physicist and academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, presented the cloak at the Super Science Night virtual exhibition in late 2023. In a live demonstration that quickly went viral, Junhao used a square sheet of optical material that obscured his legs from view when rotated at a certain angle. The project has attracted widespread attention online, with videos showing the material in action circulating across multiple platforms.
Junhao’s demonstration appears to confirm that invisibility, once confined to fiction and fantasy, can now be achieved using practical science. While the effect is not absolute and depends on specific viewing angles, the development signals a step toward a future where optical camouflage becomes a functional tool with real-world applications.
Real Invisibility Through Lenticular Optics
At the heart of the cloak is a light-bending surface called lenticular grating. According to Global Times, this material is made from tightly packed rows of cylindrical convex lenses. Each lens compresses the image of an object behind it into narrow vertical lines. When enough lenses are used, the object is broken into a series of repeated strips, effectively rendering it invisible to the observer standing in front.
Junhao explained that this principle is similar to certain forms of natural invisibility found in the animal kingdom, but refined through material science. “Whether in real life or in the world of nature and animals, there is a lot of ‘invisibility’, and this is not magic—it is scientific,” he said during the demonstration.
The principle of invisibility through refractive index matching was also highlighted. For example, when a borosilicate glass object is placed in glycerol, and both materials share a similar refractive index, the object becomes nearly impossible to detect. This same idea underpins the cloak’s ability to disguise objects by matching how light passes through them.
China has created an “invisibility cloak” called InvisDefense, developed by a team at Wuhan University. pic.twitter.com/0xdLAKNgVp
— Interesting As Fuck (@interesting_aIl) October 1, 2025
Social Media Erupts Over the Live Demonstration
Public reaction to the cloak has been both fascinated and skeptical. During the Super Science Night event, Junhao stood on stage while two assistants held the invisibility material in front of his legs. At first, the black color of his trousers was visible through the sheet. Then, after rotating the fabric 90 degrees, the background became visible and Junhao’s legs disappeared from view, creating the effect of a floating torso.
According to UNILAD Tech, clips of this performance quickly spread across social media. One widely viewed video showed a man wrapping himself completely in the cloak and seemingly vanishing into the background. “This is not invisibility, it’s hiding. You can still see it,” one user commented on X, formerly Twitter. Others compared the effect to visual trickery and expressed doubt about its real-world usefulness.
Still, many were impressed. “Man, technology is just amazing,” one viewer wrote, while another commented that Harry Potter was “way ahead of his time with this one.” The videos triggered a mixture of wonder and debate over the practicality and ethics of making objects disappear in everyday settings.
Future Implications and Optical Challenges
While the cloak only works under certain conditions, the underlying technology may have wider implications. According to Global Times, Junhao emphasized that true invisibility involves avoiding detection not just from the human eye, but across multiple forms of surveillance, visible light, infrared cameras, radar systems, and laser-based sensors.
He noted that the only way to achieve this is through what he called “low detectability of any electromagnetic wave.” This is where metamaterials come in, artificially engineered materials designed to control electromagnetic waves in ways natural materials cannot. Junhao explained that metamaterials offer a way to bend, absorb, or redirect light, potentially allowing for complete spectral invisibility.
While the current cloak does not yet achieve that level of coverage, its demonstration suggests that applications like invisible hearing aids or private rooms could be on the horizon. Junhao’s presentation, both scientific and theatrical, signals the possibility that what once belonged to the realm of fantasy may now be slowly crossing into reality.
As one user wrote on the Chinese platform Sina Weibo after watching the demonstration, “When I read Harry Potter as a child, I never thought that one day someone would be able to appear in front of me wearing such a cloak of invisibility.”