http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/19/AR2008021902617.html

Their Deepest, Darkest Discovery
Scientists Create a Black That Erases Virtually All Light

By Rick Weiss
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, February 20, 2008; Page A01

Black is getting blacker.

Researchers in New York reported this month that they have created a paper-thin material that absorbs 99.955 percent of the light that hits it, making it by far the darkest substance ever made -- about 30 times as dark as the government's current standard for blackest black.

The material, made of hollow fibers, is a Roach Motel for photons -- light checks in, but it never checks out. By voraciously sucking up all surrounding illumination, it can give those who gaze on it a dizzying sensation of nothingness.

"It's very deep, like in a forest on the darkest night," said Shawn-Yu Lin, a scientist who helped create the material at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y. "Nothing comes back to you. It's very, very, very dark."

... two & half more pages, see link

It goes on to talk about the military application (of course, we could discovere a new species of poisonous frog & the first thing our government asks the eggheads is "How can we make this into a bomb?!!" :rolleyes: ) but also about using a super black paint on solar panels to absorb more light.

A big blackest black shape of a tank or even a person is going to be noticed against a backdrop of less-blackness, unless you've pre-sprayed the area in blackest black.

I like the application for solar panels though, but it makes you think, how close is this to a black hole's abiltiy to completely absorb light?

I want to see a photo of this "black"

I want to see this black as well. Is it so black that it seems 3D?

I want to see a photo of this "black"

You'd need to look directly at the material, not a pcture of it.
Photos, or monitors are physically incapable to display such blackness.

A big blackest black shape of a tank or even a person is going to be noticed against a backdrop of less-blackness, unless you've pre-sprayed the area in blackest black.

All other black would look white next to that black

I like the application for solar panels though, but it makes you think, how close is this to a black hole's abiltiy to completely absorb light?

It lacks only 0.045% of an event horizon's lightsucking abilities.

---

Where can I buy that black?

You'd need to look directly at the material, not a pcture of it.
Photos, or monitors are physically incapable to display such blackness.

I was kinda joking there :) - altough an object of any shape made of that black material, should only show it's outline. Now, a video of such an object rotating would be cool - like the animated gif of a woman rotating clockwise/counterclocwise (which was posted in OT some 6 months ago, or so).

I want to see a photo of this "black"

http://www.stuff.co.nz/images/695403.jpg

Maybe i've it :)

Looks cool. It's like a hole in the universe

It's like, how much more black could this be? and the answer is none. None more black

Si in the picture it's actually a puck in the middle but it's so black that we can't detect the shadows on the edge (like we can on the left puck)?

That's cool.

I'd like to have a jacket made with this on the outside, if it isn't nasty to the touch. A hat, too. &c.

You could spot it with a flashlight and see no reflection? You could also make some sweet illusions e.g. by spraying a wall with the super-black thing and walk in forward it wearing a super-black jacket.

Could this be useful for research into thermo emission of light?

It's like, how much more black could this be? and the answer is none. None more black

You won the thread.

Seriously, this is cool, but I think it will freak me out if I think too much about it.

The race to get the blackist sheet 2008...

...or the most unsafe Halloween trick-r-treater costume.

I'd want a sheet of that as a Halloween costume.

Blacker than the blackest black, times infinity!

(Cookies for all who get the reference.)

And silly me thought of nukes when reading the thread title.

It's the Chuck Norris of black. :cool:

My god, imagine the applications in Goth Fashion alone!

heh heh, welcome to CFC Mailanka. :)

I've lurked for ages, but couldn't resist this thread ^_^

I've lurked for ages, but couldn't resist this thread ^_^

And you stole the pun I was thinking about as I read the first page, too. :shake:

;)

If you spraypaint something that absorbs so much light, it might look like its 2 dimensional, no edges. like something out of flatland!

It would be super awesome to have a big carpet of the stuff to throw down while certain friends are tripping on acid.

The military applications are painfully obvious: stealth aircraft.

Probably not that much; visual tracking isn't the biggest problem for aircraft (I don't think) but stuff like radar. Although I don't think they said how this reflects/absorbs non-visual light.

I'd like to have a jacket made with this on the outside, if it isn't nasty to the touch. A hat, too. &c.

And if you wore it out on a sunny day, you could serve yourself for dinner.
I don't want to think about how hot it would get...

If you can't find dark matter, just invent it!

The military applications are painfully obvious: stealth aircraft.And apparently they can do some serious pinpointing of energy.

I wonder if a military grade laser could be pinpointed with this material. The primary problem right now is getting something powerful enough to be very useful, but if you could take the current standard and squeeze it to 1/10th size with 10x the power, it might be far more effective.