Week 4: “Black Silicon: A Mystery in Infrared”

I learned the following over the course of the week:

1.      My blog has 6 followers

2.      Zero comments

3.      Since September 12^th I’ve had 52 pageviews from the United States, 8 from Russia, & 1 from Germany

4.      It is recommended to include a graphic in the blog

5.      One should have a catchy title

6.      The blog should be engagingly short

Taking this new found knowledge into account I have added the title of a MITRE article to Week 4.  In keeping with some ongoing continuity from week to week I’m sharing what I’ve learned and will segue into this week’s blog by returning back to week 3.  Resembling the cover of Pink Floyd’s album the “Dark Side of the Moon” – see the catchy graphic below – I selected “Black Silicon: A Mystery in Infrared.”   

A MITRE team replicated a Harvard experiment of manufacturing black silicon.  The black silicon is capable of doing two things: 1) it is close to absorbing a 100% of light; & 2) it also absorbs infrared energy.  The article alludes to black silicon having the potential to significantly impact such current technologies as night-vision goggles & missiles.

Presently efforts are underway to learn the physics behind the creation of black silicon in order to best establish a manufacturing process to mass produce it.  Jody Mandeville from MITRE is currently conducting tests with molecular sulfur.  While the first experiment was unsuccessful Mandeville came across a technique that won a Nobel-Prize in 1940 and anticipates unraveling the mystery behind black silicon.

See the following link for the entire article. http://www.mitre.org/news/digest/advanced_research/08_11/black_silicon.html

Considerately – CDamian (10-06-2011)