Laser Technology Creates New Forms of Combat Armour

Dr. Chunlei Guo and his team ofresearchers for the project discovered a way to transform a shiny piece ofmetal into one that is pitch black, not by paint, but by using incrediblyintense bursts of laser light. The black metal created, absorbs all radiationthat shines upon it.

"With the creation of theblack metal, an entirely new class of material becomes available to us, whichmay open up a whole new horizon for various applications," said Guo.

"To do this, we looked at thereverse process of light absorption or light radiation and transformed theincandescent lamp into a bulb that glows twice as brightly as a regular lightsource, while consuming the same amount of energy," he said.

The key to creating thissuper-filament is an ultra-brief, ultra-intense beam of light called afemtosecond laser pulse. The laser burst lasts only a few quadrillionths of asecond. That intense blast forces the surface of the metal to formnano-structures and micro-structures that dramatically alter how efficientlylight can radiate from the filament.

In addition to increasing thebrightness of a bulb, Guo's process can be used to tune the color of the lightas well. Last year, his team used a similar process to change the color ofnearly any metal to blue, gold, gray, in addition to the black. They controlledthe size and shape of the nano-structures -- and thus what colors of lightthose structures absorb and radiate -- to change the amount of each wavelengthof light the filament radiates.

In addition to this research, Guoand his team have been working on creating technology that may enable the AirForce to create an additional kind of metal. They are able to do this by usingthe femtosecond laser once again to alter the surface of metal and create uniquenano- and micro-scale structures on the metal.

"During its brief burst, thelaser unleashes as much power as the entire electric grid of North Americadoes, all focused onto a spot the size of a needle," said Guo.

The unique nano-structures which arecreated from the laser affect the way liquid molecules interact with metalmolecules. The liquid spreads out over the metal because the nano-structuresattach themselves to the liquid's molecules more readily than the liquid'smolecules bond to each other. The end result is the formation of a new kind ofmetal that can cool the plane's electronic brain and heat pumps and allow thecraft to retain dominance over any enemy that is also in flight.

Currently, the researchers needonly about half an hour to change the surface of metal that is approximatelythe size of a quarter. Nevertheless, their next goal is to make the metal evenmore quickly so they can meet the ever increasing demands of warfighting.