New Material Reflects Absolutely Nothing  E-mail
Written by John Barrie   
Friday, 08 June 2007


Many optical technologies such as camera lenses, solar cells and light emitting diodes depend in part on light being efficiently transmitted through a medium. Reflections are are a waste of that precious light.

Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), in Troy, NY, and semiconductor maker Crystal IS, in Green Island, NY, have developed a new type of nanostructured coating that can virtually eliminate reflections, potentially leading to dramatic improvements in optical devices.

The researchers showed that they can prevent almost all reflection by "growing" nanoscale rods projected at specific angles from a surface. The material stops reflections from nearly all the colors of the visible spectrum, as well as some infrared light. As a result the total reflection is 10 times less than it is with current coatings.

Applied to a solar cell, the new coating would increase the efficiency by a few percentage points. LEDs, already one of the most efficient ways to produce light, could also become much more efficient. A remarkable 40 percent improvement could be seen in LEDs, where a large amount of light generated by a semiconductor is typically trapped inside the device by reflections.

Via: Technology Review


Comments (8)add
Promised technology?
written by medvegonok , June 08, 2007
One more "V" for Bush's technological solution? Look at the last picture here - Promised technology smilies/smiley.gif
Hi-Tech
written by commercial roofing , June 08, 2007
smilies/grin.gif Great news. At least improving...

check -> Commercial Roofing | Residential Roofing
Promised technology?
written by medvegonok , June 08, 2007
One more "V" for Bush's technological solution? Look at the last picture here - Promised technology smilies/smiley.gif

Bush's trechnological solution
written by J. Average Researcher , June 10, 2007
Yeah. Bush's tech solution. By which you mean "cut funding to research agencies and claim credit for any research that manages to happen anyway?"

Take a look at the NSF's budget over the last several years if you think Bush is pushing this kind of research.
nods
written by monotonehell , June 11, 2007
Best picture EVER! smilies/cheesy.gif
ListAfterList.com Help!
written by Ryan Pratt , June 12, 2007
Can someone make a list of the things that depend in part on light being efficiently transmitted through a medium? I didn't know about this!

http://www.listafterlist.com

Post the link back on here then maybe, please?!

Thanks!
help with a list on ListAfterList.com
written by Ryan Pratt , June 12, 2007
Can someone make a list of the things that depend in part on light being efficiently transmitted through a medium? I didn't know about this at all. Pretty interesting. Here is the Web site:

[url= http://www.listafterlist.com] ...erlist.com

Post the link back on here then maybe, please?!

Thanks!

I've seen this material before...
written by Tate , June 12, 2007
It was used during the last few seconds of the Sopranos final episode. And here I was thinking that the ending was a copout, when all along they were just showing off this stuff. Genius!
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John Barrie
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