New Nanocoating Is Virtual Black Hole for Reflections

PhysOrg ^

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

From the article:

The new material has almost the same refractive index as air I would assume this means that it is incredibly transparent. Hence, it would make for good LEDs, since nearly ALL of the LED light would escape. It would improve solar cells, since a coating of this material (instead of glass) would allow far more light to reach the cell.
35 posted on 03/01/2007 9:00:36 PM EST by beezdotcom

Your posts remind me of the old "Grin and Bear It" cartoon. A squad of soldiers is lined up in a column, all facing one way. Except that the last soldier in the squad is facing the opposite direction, and the Sergent is screaming at him, "Of all the men in this squad who did it wrong, you had to foul everything up and get it right!"

I was like everyone else - I just glanced at the article and looked at the comments without really trying to make sense of the article. Then I saw your quote about the index of refraction being the same as air, and immediately checked your quote. There it was, "buried" in the first line of the article text!! Who'd have thought of looking there!

So while everyone else was babbling about absorption of light (and of radar waves), this thing is - as the article clearly states - an ideal transparent optical coating which enables a lens to transmit I don't ever recall a case where by rights the moderator should pull the first 26 replies as being nongermane!

[beezdotcom]

Except that the last soldier in the squad is facing the opposite direction, and the Sergent is screaming at him, "Of all the men in this squad who did it wrong, you had to foul everything up and get it right!"

Don't worry...you won't see me in THAT situation too often! ;-)

[beezdotcom]

No, I think they would effectively be black since color is relected light at various wavelenghts and black is the absence of color.

This stuff doesn't absorb - it is incredibly transparent (which is why it doesn't reflect). Therefore, they will look like they are covered with nothing.

[docbnj]

A moose in the headlights looks just like this: no reflection, just a big, dark spot. Then comes a thud, with the sound of breaking glass and twisting metal, followed by ambulance sirens. The sirens are a good sign: they indicate that you are still alive.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

You and I were, perhaps, both wrong. The first application of the material was as you discussed - but at the end of the article we see:

• Black body radiation. The development could also advance fundamental science. A material that reflects no light is known as an ideal "black body." No such material has been available to scientists, until now. Researchers could use an ideal black body to shed light on quantum mechanics, the much-touted theory from physics that explains the inherent "weirdness" of the atomic realm.

Maybe the answer is, (e) all of the above.

Maybe you make your lens coating out of this stuff, and the lens appears perfectly black because there is no possibility of light coming out once it goes in. Therefore it perfectly cloaks anything behind it.

If you were in a bubble of this stuff, you could see out perfectly (because it lets radiation in, but the bubble would appear perfectly black because light could not come out. The perfect thing to put behind a one-way mirror.

[Flightdeck]

The article actually doesn't mention the complex refractive index, which, along with the real index would define the absorptivity/transmittivity (using Fresnel's law). So we just have to assume it is extremely low based on the suggested applications, as beezdotcom pointed out.

[anymouse]

Cue Coplan's "Fanfare for the Common Man" theme music.

I'm surprised that Geigo hasn't parodied that scene from "2001" with their cavemen complaining about how were they supposed to know that it was a sign of peace. :)

[Jotmo]

bump for later

[Jedi Master Pikachu]

New article, same topic:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1794445/posts?page=3.

[Jedi Master Pikachu]

The article, here, states that if the material is on a clear thing, it will be clear, but if on an opaque substance, it will look black.

[R. Scott]

Seems a natural for stealth technology, too, doesn't it?

If it is non-reflective in the entire EM spectrum. If not, could the length of the silica nanorods might be adjusted for the radio end of the band?

[beezdotcom]

THAT post does a much better job of explaining those properties - the other post really left a lot to our speculation. Thanks for the link.