University of California developed stealth coating thin with Teflon

Future US Predator UAV drone fleet may be harder to detect and shoot down thanks to a new type of camouflage cover developed by the University of California, San Diego (UCSD).

University of California develops new stealth coating

This material is called " dielectric metasurface cloak" based on a previous study by Duke University in 2006. It is basically a thin, teflon-coated layer. Ceramic particles can regulate energy wavelengths along the electromagnetic ladder including visible light and radar wavelengths.

Boubacar Kante, a professor from UCSD's computer and electrical engineering department, said: "Stealthiness seems to be out of reach for today's technologies, but it can become a reality." in the near future thanks to the recent development of cover devices ".

Overlay equipment is created with the aim of coating objects that make them invisible. The idea behind such devices is to change electromagnetic waves such as light or radar out of an object so that it is difficult to detect before these frequencies.

However, one of the drawbacks of the cover device is that it is often very large because the device needs many layers of material to hide the object, so it is thicker than the size of the object below. Another common drawback is "lossy" - that is, the coating reduces reflected light at a lower intensity than the surface reflection intensity of the covered object. Kante explains: "Imagine if you see the difference in brightness around an object that is hidden, it obviously" tails "."

Many coatings encounter lossy conditions because they are made of metal particles that absorb light. Researchers believe that the key to invisibility coating design is to use non-conductive materials called dielectrics, which do not absorb light. The material created by UCSD has two types of dielectric - a special ceramic and Teflon materials commonly used on non-stick pans. Both are sewn together in a very precise ratio to change the way light reflects off the coating.

In tests with this material, the researchers designed a "carpet" that covers an object placed on a flat surface. The carpet makes the entire system set up with objects and surfaces flat by simulating the reflection of light off the flat surface. Every object reflects different light from a flat surface but when the object is covered by this carpet, light from many different points is reflected synchronously, eliminating the light distortion caused by the shape of object. Professor Kante said: "This covering device basically deceives observers to make them think that in front of them is a plane."

The form of light is reflected from an uncloaked object compared to when covered with UCSD (cloaked) material.

Researchers have used computer design software and electromagnetic simulations to design and optimize this coating. It was then made into a thin Teflon plate with a matrix structure containing many small cylindrical ceramic particles, each with different heights based on its position on the coating. Thanks to this elevation change, they can control the reflection of light at each point on the coating.

Professor Kante said: "Using this technology, we can do more, not only to make the covered objects invisible. We can change the way the light waves are reflected. and finally can focus light on solar towers, similar to light convergence devices, We also expect that this technology will be applied to fields such as optics and design. furniture and art ".