New material pushes the boundary of blackness

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUSN1555030620080115

New material pushes the boundary of blackness

Tue Jan 15, 2008 5:38pm EST

By Julie Steenhuysen

CHICAGO (Reuters) - U.S. researchers said on Tuesday they have made the darkest material on Earth, a substance so black it absorbs more than 99.9 percent of light.

Made from tiny tubes of carbon standing on end, this material is almost 30 times darker than a carbon substance used by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology as the current benchmark of blackness.

And the material is close to the long-sought ideal black, which could absorb all colors of light and reflect none.

...

Ajayan said the material could be used in solar energy conversion. "You could think of a material that basically collects all the light that falls into it," he said.

...

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/chronicle/5451632.html

[Greyskye]

1. That's quite an improvement!

This new stuff reflects only 0.045 percent of all light shined upon it. That makes a 4x improvement!

From the 2nd link:
The previous record-holder was an alloy of nickel and phosphorus pitted with tiny craters developed in 2003 by researchers at the National Physical Laboratory in London. The material reflected about 0.16 percent of light shined upon it.

[pscot]

2. Henceforward, Hatrack's posts

will appear in this new medium.

[GreenPartyVoter]

3. Well, cool!

[hogwyld]

4. Wow! that's even blacker

than Cheney's heart!

[jody]

5. The potential for stealth weapon systems is fantastic. n/t