IPFS News Link • Science
A New Engineered Stealth Metamaterial is the Blackest Ever
• PopSciA new blacker-than-black metamaterial absorbs almost all the light that hits it, heralding a new breed of stealth technology.
Man-made metamaterials can also bend light to create invisibility cloaks, ultra-thin sound-proof walls and even miniature Big Bangs and megaverses.
The researchers tested their new black material with near-infrared radiation, just beyond the red end of the visible spectrum. When the radiation hit the polished material at less than 45 degrees from perpendicular, about 20 percent of the radiation bounced off. When they roughened the material so it wasn't smooth, less than 1 percent of the radiation bounced off.
Narimanov told New Scientist the technology would likely be used to build radar-proof stealth equipment.