Cloaking devices with half lenses and plane mirrors and vehicles comprising the same

A cloaking device assembly comprising:

• an object-side, an image-side, a cloaked region, a cloaked article positioned within the cloaked region, and a reference optical axis extending from the object-side to the image-side;
• a pair of object-side half lenses, each of the pair of object-side half lenses comprising an inward facing surface and an outward facing convex surface, wherein one of the pair of object-side half lenses is positioned on one side of the reference optical axis and another of the pair of object-side half lenses is positioned on another side of the reference optical axis;
• a pair of image-side half lenses, each of the pair of image-side half lenses comprising an inward facing surface and an outward facing convex surface, wherein one of the pair of image-side half lenses is positioned on one side of the reference optical axis and another of the pair of image-side half lenses is positioned on another side of the reference optical axis;
• a pair of planar reflection boundaries, each of the pair of planar reflection boundaries comprising an inward facing mirror surface oriented parallel to the reference optical axis, wherein one of the pair of planar reflection boundaries is positioned between the object-side half lens and the image-side half lens positioned on the one side of the reference optical axis and another of the pair of planar reflection boundaries is positioned between the object-side half lens and the image-side half lens positioned on the another side of the reference optical axis;
• wherein:
• the pair of object-side half lenses and the pair of image-side half lenses are selected from the group consisting of cylindrical half lenses, acylindrical half lenses and achromatic half lenses;
• light from an object positioned on the object-side of the cloaking device assembly and obscured by the cloaked region is redirected around the cloaked article by the pair of object-side half lenses, pair of planar reflection boundaries and pair of image-side half lenses to form an image of the object on the image-side of the cloaking device assembly such that the light from the object appears to pass through the cloaked article.

A vehicle comprising:

• an A-pillar;
• and
• a cloaking device positioned on the A-pillar, the cloaking device comprising:
• an object-side, an image-side, a cloaked region and a reference optical axis extending from the object-side to the image-side, wherein the A-pillar is positioned within the cloaked region, the object-side is positioned on an exterior of the vehicle and the image-side is positioned within an interior of the vehicle;
• an object-side half lens and an image-side half lens, the object-side half lens and the image-side half lens each comprising an inward facing surface, an outward facing convex surface, a thick end and a thin end, wherein the inward facing surface and the outward facing convex surface extend between the thick end and the thin end;
• a planar reflection boundary positioned between the object-side half lens and the image-side half lens, the planar reflection boundary comprising an inward facing mirror surface oriented parallel with the reference optical axis,
• wherein light from an object positioned on the object-side of the cloaking device and obscured by the cloaked region is redirected around the A-pillar via propagation of the light through the object-side half lens onto the planar reflection boundary, reflection of the light from object-side half lens by the planar reflection boundary onto the image-side half lens and propagation of the light from the planar reflection boundary through the image-side half lens to form an image of the object on the image-side of the cloaking device such that the light from the object appears to pass through the cloaked region.