A super-power is on its way to becoming a hand-held application thanks to research at the University of Texas at Dallas.

Kenneth O, the director of the Texas Analog Center of Excellence and an electrical engineering professor at the University of Texas at Dallas, and his team have created an imaging chip with ‘x-ray vision’ that can see through clothing, ceramic, paper and other materials.

The chip works by using low energy light waves in the terahertz range of the electromagnetic spectrum to see through items and is powered by complementary metal-oxide semiconductor technology, or CMOS, the same circuitry found in cell phones, computers and most other electronics on the market. CMOS opens the door to an array of products where the chip could be used, says O, who says he thinks the chip could be seen in cell phone cameras in as little as two to three years.

Unlike most image chips, O’s chip doesn’t need the light to be focused with a lens to make a clear shot. A device sends and receives rays directly from an emitter and receiver without any further focusing. The result is an image with about a half-millimeter resolution, with outlines and major features being visible but slightly pixilated on a laptop sized computer screen. The terahertz rays can travel through paper, ceramics, plastic, clothing, and wood but can not penetrate through metal or water.

To take a picture, a camera with the image chip inside must be about 10 centimeters away from the subject, which quells any privacy concerns about high-tech peeping toms, says O.

“Like the X-ray vision of superman, this technology can allow you to see through things—including clothes” says O. “By eliminating the range it’ll be really hard for anybody to sneak up on you and try to see through your cloths without letting you know first.”

O envisions the chip technology being used for a variety of close-up inspection jobs in the future, like finding studs and wires in walls, detecting counterfeit money and scanning body cavities for cancer at the end of a colonoscopy scope. The light used by the chip can only travel about two millimeters into the skin, so it can only be used to scan the outer surfaces and inner cavities of the body, says O. Actual x-rays will still be the ones to discover bone breaks and fractures.

Although the terahertz frequency light can capture x-ray like images, actual x-rays are on the complete other side of the electromagnetic spectrum and act completely different from their terahertz cousins. They have shorter wavelengths, higher frequency and more energy, which can lead to DNA damage without proper precautions. The scientific consensus is that there are no such effects are associated with the low energy terahertz waves, says O.

While O is using light to see through objects, another research project at UT Austin is using light to hide them.

Electrical engineering professor Andrea Alú has developed a plasmonic shield that cloaks objects, rendering them invisible under microwave light. The shield works by resonating at about the same frequency as the microwaves, which helps prevent the scattering of light that allows objects to be seen. Using this method, Alú has made an 18-centimeter long cylinder turn invisible when coated and viewed under microwave light.

O’s research reveals while Alú’s conceals, but they both work in the field of electrical engineering. The expanse of the field is what makes electrical engineering diverse, exciting and a source for new technological innovations, says Emily Ledbetter, the corporate director of the UT chapter of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and a junior studying electrical engineering.

I don’t know what I’ll be doing ten years from now, “ says Ledbetter,“ because I could be doing anything.”