British scientists have created a “new black” material that absorbs all but 0.035 percent of visual light, making it so dark that human eyes struggle to comprehend its existence.
Made from carbon nanotubes, “Vantablack” absorbs so much light that to the human brain, seeing the material appears like looking into a black hole, with shapes, contours, and perspective all lost.
Launched at the Farnborough International Air Show, the material is not just unusually dark but also conducts heat more than seven times better than copper and is ten times stronger than steel.
Vantablack has applications in astronomical cameras, telescopes, and infrared imaging systems, and its manufacturer, Surrey Nanosystems,
The material has been developed to be used in astronomical cameras, telescopes and infrared scanning systems is already scaling up production for orders from the defence and space sectors.
Ben Jensen, Chief Technology Officer of Surrey NanoSystems, said:
“Vantablack is a major breakthrough by UK industry in the application of nanotechnology to optical instrumentation. For example, it reduces stray-light, improving the ability of sensitive telescopes to see the faintest stars, and allows the use of smaller, lighter sources in space-borne black body calibration systems. Its ultra-low reflectance improves the sensitivity of terrestrial, space and air-borne instrumentation”
