An undergraduate student at St Andrews University in Fife, Janos Perczel has developed an optical sphere that might be used to develop an 'invisibility cloak'.

He said that an optical illusion can be used to slow down light and then it can be bent to hide an object. Experts say that there have been earlier attempts to create such a clock but they usually work only with certain backgrounds.

The 22-year-old from Hungry claimed that by slowing down the rays of light, a wearer can be invisible in any background. He gained the idea under the guidance of Professor Ulf Leonhardt, who teaches at the university's school of physics and astronomy.

Mr Perczel worked on the project for eight months after he came to a belief that the invisible sphere has the potential to create such as illusion.

The new research was published on Tuesday in the Institute of Physics and German Physical Society’s New Journal of Physics.