Ever want Harry Potter's Cloak of Invisibility? Science fiction fantasy may just become a reality as Spanish researchers have developed an magnetic cloaking device that could hide objects from magnetic fields.

The study published in the New Journal of Physics revealed that the device could make it possible to pass through existing magnetic fields without modifying them. If developed it could mean that patients with pacemakers or other magnetic implants could be able to undergo MRIs without harm.

"This is theoretical, but we have tried to get some recipes on how this could be made with available materials," said Alvar Sanchez, the study's lead author. "Imagine a shell with some kind of metallic layers. This shell in the shape of a cylinder could surround a magnet and make it disappear."

The magnetic invisibility cloak could also be an asset to the military who could use it to shield ships from mines that detonate when a magnetic field is detected.

But the magnetic cloak could also open up disturbing new techniques from criminals.

"A magnetic field interacts with gun and the machine detects the reflection," Sanchez said. "One can reduce the reflection because you don't disturb the magnetic field." He said that he would assist the authorities on ways to defeat his device if it ever became a problem.

The so-called invisibility cloak consists of several layers. The first layer stops the magnetic field of the object from being detected while the outer layers of "metamaterials" would correct distortions from the outside magnetic field to make the object virtually invisible.

Other scientists have expressed their doubts about this device making its way out of theory into practice.

"It's quite likely this thing works in a computer, but it's a question of whether it works in real life," MIT professor of materials science Caroline Ross told Discovery News.

"I'm very suspicious of it," JohnWaugh, an MIT professor emeritus said about the cloak working on a pacemaker. "I don't think you could do that. The minute you put the patient in an MRI machine and start pulsing it, all kinds of hell will start happening."

Sanchez remains adamant that his paper is a proof of concept design and that other researchers and scientists can continue with the design.