Experiments on cloaking in optics, thermodynamics and mechanics

Abstract

Spatial coordinate transformations can be used to transform boundaries, material parameters or discrete lattices. We discuss fundamental constraints in regard to cloaking and review our corresponding experiments in optics, thermodynamics and mechanics. For example, we emphasize three-dimensional broadband visible-frequency carpet cloaking, transient thermal cloaking, three-dimensional omnidirectional macroscopic broadband cloaking for diffuse light throughout the entire visible range, cloaking for flexural waves in thin plates and three-dimensional elasto-static core–shell cloaking using pentamode mechanical metamaterials.