'Invisibility cloak' that makes objects DISAPPEAR behind it unveiled at TED2013 conference

Dr Baile Zhang shows off his own version of the 'invisibility cloak' for the first time

He says he made the device by attaching two pieces of calcite together



A scientist has become the talk of the town at a popular tech conference this week as he unveiled his own 'invisible cloak' technology that's straight out of a Harry Potter novel.



The cloak is the work of Dr Baile Zhang, who says he developed the cloak more as a fun hobby than a serious physics breakthrough.



Dr Zhang showed off his invention, the 'macroscopic invisibility cloak at the prestigious TED2013 conference in Long Beach, California on Monday.

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Now you see it...: The box was made by attaching two pieces of calcite - a common mineral that can bend light

Now you don't: The rolled-up Post-It note in this video cannot be seen as it passes behind the box in this demonstration posted on YouTube

Though Dr Zhang's device is more of a box than a cloak, the purpose is just the same - bending light around an object so that it cannot be seen.

He told BoingBoing that the came up with the idea in 2010, and constructed the device 'just for fun.'

In a video posted to YouTube, Dr Zhang demonstrates it by passing a rolled-up Post-It note by the box.

Scientist: The 'cloak' is the work of Singapore physics professor Baile Zhang, who showed it off at the TED2013 conference on Monday

Whenever the note is behind the cloak, it cannot be seen.

The demonstration in the video is not the same as the one presented at TED2013.

Dr Zhang told the tech blog that he developed the box by attaching two pieces of calcite - a carbonate mineral that can bend light - together.



BoingBoing's Carla Sinclair, who spoke to Dr Zhang on Monday, writes: 'The idea came to him in 2010, and today was the first time he's shown it to a live audience.'



Dr Zhang, 31, is currently an assistant professor of physics and applied physics at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.



Last year, Dr Zhang was listed in the MIT Technology Review's '35 Innovators Under 35' list.

Dr Zhang's device is not the first invisibility cloak - which was made famous in the Harry Potter book and film series.



Other designs are being worked on in places like London's Imperial College, Duke University and University of Texas.



Dr Zhang is not the only innovator at TED2013.

Sugata Mitra was awarded the conference's $1million prize for his 'Hole in the Wall Experiment,' his vision for the future of education where students teach themselves.

Life imitating art: The technology was made famous by Harry Potter - but now researchers at various colleges have been working on their own versions

Hobby: Dr Zhang's device, demonstrated here, is not the first invisibility cloak - but it may be the first that was done 'for fun'