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Femtosecond Lasers Used To Color Metals
Maximum Prophet writes "An optics professor and a postgrad have developed a way to use ultra-short pulses of laser light to etch nano features into the surface of metals so that they can absorb or reflect specific wavelengths of light. This is very similar to the way that butterflies get the color in their wings."
It might be cheaper given the cost of disposing of hazardous waste associated with conventional painting processes.
As an artist I find this highly interesting. I'm always looking for new mediums to work with, and I certainly hope this becomes easy enough to work with where I can experiment with it. I'm sure it would open up a whole host of new ideas for creative avenues.
Automotive paint isn't just used to make your car look pretty - it's also a protective coating to stop it going rusty.
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I could see this for high end vehicles where people would be willing to pay the premium for a car who's "paint" will never fade.
Once you have the equipment, it just takes electricity. No need to buy paint, dyes, etc. on an ongoing basis. And according to the article, it's part of the metal, so it doesn't flake or rub off.
I have to wonder how difficult it would be to rub off the outer layer of the metal that's causing the wavelength modifications.. The article implies that the laser is modifying the metal at an atomic level, and I can't imagine it'd be too tough to scrape a few atoms off the surface of an aluminum body panel. What happens when a bird poops on the hood of your laser-colored car? Or worse, when some road tar gets splattered onto your front bumper. Normally, cleaning these up involves solvents and scrubbing, and I don't imagine that bare metal would withstand that combination all that well over time.
This argument is like the quarterback vs the coach.
While the postgrad may have done 99.9999999% of the annoying and tedious labor-intensive development of the concept, it is often the case that such partnerships start with a short conversation in a hallway, where either one of them could rightly claim to have spawned the insightful flash that led to the exercise in the first place, and neither one of them could rightly deny the claim of the other. Add that to the fact that the lab is provided by the professor's tenure and grant-gathering capabilities, and you really can't say that the professor isn't entitled to being listed prominently.
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It should work in a variety of wavelengths. For 'house and office' use however, it boils down to two question: 1) how many common materials will take the markings (looking around my house and office, I see little metal and most of that is painted*), and 2) will the marking remain visible under a layer of dust (within a few hours of cleaning, you'll start to accumulate more - even if won't be visible to the naked eye for a day or two)?
*And how well a given metal accepts these markings will depend heavily on its crystal structure.
If he can figure out the right permutation to absorb radar or have radar waves cancel themselves out, then the military may be interested.