3 ms·

New Super-Black, Light-Absorbing Material Looks Like a Hole in Reality

25 points by sethbannon 12y ago

dm2 12y ago
What does the hole in the top image represent? Is that just a random hole in the material? Would it be possible to make the "opposite" of this material? Something that reflects at near perfect efficiency? Would that just be a normal mirror?
- alok-g 12y ago
  Assuming you are referring to this image: http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article9603983.ece/alternates/w460/newblack.jpg http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article9603983.ece/alt... What looks like a hole in the metal foil is the portion of the metal foil with the said material applied on it. It looks like a hole in spite of the metal foil having ridges and valleys as seen on the sides where the material is not applied.
  - dm2 12y ago
    No, the URL was changed after I posted that comment. This is the image I was referring to: http://cdn.singularityhub.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/nasa-carbon-nanotubes-super-black.jpg http://cdn.singularityhub.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/nas... I assume it was just there to show how small carbon-nanotube fibers are. From this page: http://singularityhub.com/2014/07/19/new-super-black-light-absorbing-material-looks-like-a-hole-in-reality/ http://singularityhub.com/2014/07/19/new-super-black-light-a...
dang 12y ago
A dupe of https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8030459 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8030459. (Before edit: Url changed from http://singularityhub.com/2014/07/19/new-super-black-light-absorbing-material-looks-like-a-hole-in-reality/ http://singularityhub.com/2014/07/19/new-super-black-light-a..., which points to this.)
gus_massa 12y ago
This story appeared a few times during the last days with different linkbait titles, like "Blackest: Scientists develop a material so dark that can't be seen" This article is very interesting. This is the first article I saw that has a photograph of the new material, and not only some stock photos of black objects. (I'm not ironic. I rally wanted to see a photo of this. Perhaps a spectrogram and some technical descriptions have more scientific information, but nevertheless I wanted to see it with "my" eyes.)
ricardobeat 12y ago
Back in 2009: http://www.wired.com/2009/03/ultrablack/ http://www.wired.com/2009/03/ultrablack/ 2008: http://www.reuters.com/article/2008/01/15/us-nano-black-idUSN1555030620080115 http://www.reuters.com/article/2008/01/15/us-nano-black-idUS... 2007: http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/News/2007/March/01030701.asp http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/News/2007/March/01030701.a... 2003: https://web.archive.org/web/20030219071652/http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_747664.html?menu=news https://web.archive.org/web/20030219071652/http://www.ananov... Of course the goalpost is moving, but we keep 'reinventing' this stuff...
- devindotcom 12y ago
  Yeah, we covered this even though it's an old type of material. The news is actually an improved manufacturing technique.

25 points by sethbannon 12y ago

dm2 12y ago

What does the hole in the top image represent? Is that just a random hole in the material? Would it be possible to make the "opposite" of this material? Something that reflects at near perfect efficiency? Would that just be a normal mirror?

alok-g 12y ago
Assuming you are referring to this image: http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article9603983.ece/alternates/w460/newblack.jpg http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article9603983.ece/alt... What looks like a hole in the metal foil is the portion of the metal foil with the said material applied on it. It looks like a hole in spite of the metal foil having ridges and valleys as seen on the sides where the material is not applied.
- dm2 12y ago
  No, the URL was changed after I posted that comment. This is the image I was referring to: http://cdn.singularityhub.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/nasa-carbon-nanotubes-super-black.jpg http://cdn.singularityhub.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/nas... I assume it was just there to show how small carbon-nanotube fibers are. From this page: http://singularityhub.com/2014/07/19/new-super-black-light-absorbing-material-looks-like-a-hole-in-reality/ http://singularityhub.com/2014/07/19/new-super-black-light-a...

dang 12y ago

A dupe of https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8030459 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8030459. (Before edit: Url changed from http://singularityhub.com/2014/07/19/new-super-black-light-absorbing-material-looks-like-a-hole-in-reality/ http://singularityhub.com/2014/07/19/new-super-black-light-a..., which points to this.)

gus_massa 12y ago

This story appeared a few times during the last days with different linkbait titles, like "Blackest: Scientists develop a material so dark that can't be seen" This article is very interesting. This is the first article I saw that has a photograph of the new material, and not only some stock photos of black objects. (I'm not ironic. I rally wanted to see a photo of this. Perhaps a spectrogram and some technical descriptions have more scientific information, but nevertheless I wanted to see it with "my" eyes.)

ricardobeat 12y ago

Back in 2009: http://www.wired.com/2009/03/ultrablack/ http://www.wired.com/2009/03/ultrablack/ 2008: http://www.reuters.com/article/2008/01/15/us-nano-black-idUSN1555030620080115 http://www.reuters.com/article/2008/01/15/us-nano-black-idUS... 2007: http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/News/2007/March/01030701.asp http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/News/2007/March/01030701.a... 2003: https://web.archive.org/web/20030219071652/http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_747664.html?menu=news https://web.archive.org/web/20030219071652/http://www.ananov... Of course the goalpost is moving, but we keep 'reinventing' this stuff...

devindotcom 12y ago
Yeah, we covered this even though it's an old type of material. The news is actually an improved manufacturing technique.