埃尔金及其同事在研究中使用了一种光子晶体来制造隐形斗篷。这种光子晶体的结构看上去像成堆的木头。

They used the cloak to conceal a small bump on a gold surface -- a bit like hiding a small objectunderneath a carpet and then making both the bump and the carpet invisible.

研究人员使用隐形斗篷来掩盖黄金表面的一个小凸起，其原理就如同将一个小物体隐藏在地毯下，然后再使这个凸起和地毯都隐形。

The "cloak" was composed of special lenses that work by partially bending light waves tosuppress the light scattering from the bump.

这个“斗篷由特殊透镜组成，它通过部分弯曲可见光线来抑制凸起发出的光。

This is very exciting, because mankind has always thought about being invisible or havinginvisibility cloaks, Ergin told the reporters in a telephone interview. "This is the first proof ofprinciple. It shows that the technique works."

埃尔金在接受一个电话采访时说：“这一发明十分令人激动，因为人类一直都想隐形或拥有隐形斗篷。这是我们的首个隐形样本，看来这一技术是可行的。

He added, however, that it would be many years before anything as large as a person, car ortank could be made to disappear with this technique.

但他认为，利用上述技术使人、汽车、坦克等大型物体隐形尚需时日。

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