Almost everything emits heat waves: automobiles, electrical appliances, communication lines human body and so on. And to fix this a long time ago, there are thermal imagers. But some objects it would be nice to hide from the “eye” of these devices. And, as reported by the journal Advanced Engineering Materials, the group of scientists from the University of Wisconsin in Madison did it by creating a material that makes objects invisible in the infrared range.
With the invention there is a team of scientists led by Professor Jiang Hongjun. A new material very similar in appearance to the metal. Its leaves with a thickness less than 1 mm absorbs about 94% of infrared radiation with a wavelength of from 2.5 to 15.5 micrometers. Most effectively the invention operates in the middle and far infrared bands, where, for example, actively gives off heat to the human body.
In order to achieve the above effect, the researchers used popular in recent years metamaterials, namely the “black silicon”. It is a smooth material “under the microscope” looks like a thick conglomeration of small bars. But a group of scientists have perfected the material, creating higher columns and adding the silver nanoparticles. Due to this structure, the material and can absorb radiation in the infrared range.
It is easy to guess that this invention is perfect the military as a means of disguising soldiers and military equipment. However, experts in the development of invented and little bonus. The metamaterial was embedded with a small infra-red emitters. They are controlled remotely and can create the “illusion” of an object, confusing the infrared sensors. For example, a closed sheet of metamaterial tank will look like a boiler or something more exotic.
New metamaterial could hide you from thermal imaging
Vladimir Kuznetsov