Scientists invent long-lasting, near infrared-emitting material

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-11-scientists-long-lasting-infrared-emitting-material.html

Scientists invent long-lasting, near infrared-emitting material

November 20, 2011

Researchers at the University of Georgia have developed a new material that emits a long-lasting near-infrared glow after a single minute of exposure to sunlight. By mixing it with paint, they were able to draw an image of the university's logo whose luminescence only can be seen with a night vision device. Credit: Zhengwei Pan/UGA

Materials that emit visible light after being exposed to sunlight are commonplace and can be found in everything from emergency signage to glow-in-the-dark stickers. But until now, scientists have had little success creating materials that emit light in the near-infrared range, a portion of the spectrum that only can be seen with the aid of night vision devices.

In a paper just published in the early online edition of the journal http://www.physorg.com/tags/nature+materials/">Nature Materials, however, University of Georgia scientists describe a new material that emits a long-lasting, near-infrared glow after a single minute of exposure to sunlight. Lead author Zhengwei Pan, associate professor of physics and engineering in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences and the Faculty of Engineering, said the material has the potential to revolutionize medical diagnostics, give the military and law enforcement agencies a "secret" source of illumination and provide the foundation for highly efficient solar cells.

"When you bring the material anywhere outside of a building, one minute of exposure to light can create a 360-hour release of near-infrared light," Pan said. "It can be activated by indoor fluorescent lighting as well, and it has many possible applications."

…

In addition to exploring biomedical applications, Pan's team aims to use it to collect, store and convert solar energy. "This material has an extraordinary ability to capture and store energy," Pan said, "so this means that it is a good candidate for making solar cells significantly more efficient."

http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nmat3173

[Poll_Blind]

1. "...give the military and law enforcement agencies a 'secret' source of illumination..."

Oh, I'll say. I recall reading about a couple of assassinations carried out by a 'friendly' country who will not be named in which similar marking dyes were used in order to facilitate targeting of a Hellfire missile sometime later.

But that's not quite my point. My real point is how this could be used by police forces. Imagine a simple clear sticker which could be palmed, have the backing removed and pressed briefly on an individual's car- just long enough for the invisible paint to come off and adhere to the car's body- like an invisible temporary tattoo. The police (or criminals) would be able to track that vehicle (especially if the paint was encoded with numerals or a bar code which acted as a GUID (a unique ID)- and they wouldn't have to leave an audit trail associated with database lookups in, say, a vehicle license registration search.

A more simplified marker could be used to denote "harass this one".

PB

[napoleon_in_rags]

2. Compared to the GPS controversy though?

http://articles.cnn.com/2011-11-08/justice/justice_scotus-gps-surveillance_1_gps-device-surveillance-seizure?_s=PM:JUSTICE

I just don't see the dark sticker you describe as that threatening. Your average webcam sees normal spectrum, in addition to infrared. Home security cameras too. IT wouldn't be too hard to know what's on your car. I think the uses you describe are clever, but have more value at the consumer level, like bar codes that are big and easily read (on every side of the box) but don't disrupt the products visual packaging at all. (It would be cool, you could put on your special glasses and go into the world of "They Live", except where everything is bar codes. hee hee)