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Researchers at the University of Michigan are experimenting with a new surface coating which makes military vehicles almost invisible at night. This technology could also be used for planes to make them not appear on the radar, reports TechnologyReview.
The process is based on carbonate-nanotubes, which are said to be the blackest known material. The long strings of pure carbonate, each only a few milimeters in diameter, have diverse useful attributes - from a great rigidity to conductibility. They absorb a wide spectrum - from radio waves and visible light to ultraviolett light - and do that almost perfect. Researchers use this attribute for extremly sensitive camera sensors.
L. Jay Guo (Asian, what did you think?), professor of Electrical Engineering at the U-M, had the idea to use the material as camouflage, as stealth planes are already being colored black/dark blue to make them almost invisible at the sky. Guos group let as test a 'forest' of vertical Carbonate-Nanotubes grow on the surface of various threedimensional objects. The result: The carbonate-nanotubes made the objects seem flat and black for the viewer - including such which elevated quite a lot from a siliciumwafer. The coating also helped making the objects almost invisible on a black background.
This effect happens because the nanotubes absor the light perfectly - and because they have a little space between each other. The experiment created an index of refraction which was almost identical with the surrounding air. Guo thinks, that planes with such a coat are safe from radar.
"If it gets hit by rays, nothing is reflected. It's like there is no object at all."
Source: http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Nanofarbe-soll-Flugzeuge-unsichtbar-machen-1401394.html
Translated by me, excuse any errors.
The process is based on carbonate-nanotubes, which are said to be the blackest known material. The long strings of pure carbonate, each only a few milimeters in diameter, have diverse useful attributes - from a great rigidity to conductibility. They absorb a wide spectrum - from radio waves and visible light to ultraviolett light - and do that almost perfect. Researchers use this attribute for extremly sensitive camera sensors.
L. Jay Guo (Asian, what did you think?), professor of Electrical Engineering at the U-M, had the idea to use the material as camouflage, as stealth planes are already being colored black/dark blue to make them almost invisible at the sky. Guos group let as test a 'forest' of vertical Carbonate-Nanotubes grow on the surface of various threedimensional objects. The result: The carbonate-nanotubes made the objects seem flat and black for the viewer - including such which elevated quite a lot from a siliciumwafer. The coating also helped making the objects almost invisible on a black background.
This effect happens because the nanotubes absor the light perfectly - and because they have a little space between each other. The experiment created an index of refraction which was almost identical with the surrounding air. Guo thinks, that planes with such a coat are safe from radar.
"If it gets hit by rays, nothing is reflected. It's like there is no object at all."
Source: http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Nanofarbe-soll-Flugzeuge-unsichtbar-machen-1401394.html
Translated by me, excuse any errors.
