Hiding objects and creating illusions above a carpet filter using a Fourier optics approach

Invisibility carpet cloaks are usually used to hide an object beneath carpet. In this paper we propose and demonstrate a carpet filter to hide objects and create illusions above the filter by using a Fourier optics method. Instead of using transformation optics, we get electromagnetic parameters of the filter by optical transfer functions, which play the role of modulating the propagation of the scattering angular spectrum directly from an object above the filter. By further adding a functional layer onto the filter, we can even camouflage the object so that it appears to be a different object. The analytical results are confirmed by numerical simulations. Our method is completely different from the current coordinate transfer method and may provide another point of view to more clearly understand the mechanism of invisibility cloaks. (C) 2010 Optical Society of America