A team of researchers led by E. Fred Schubert has created the world’s first material that reflects virtually no light.

While carbon nanotube arrays absorb light almost completely, another record-breaking material created by the Future Chips Constellation lets light enter (and leave) it with virtually no reflection. E. Fred Schubert, the Wellfleet Senior Distinguished Professor, Future Chips, and professor of electrical engineering and physics, and his group developed the antireflection coatings made from nanostructured materials, with support from the National Science Foundation, Department of Energy, Army Research Office, Sandia, and several corporate and state sources.

“This research could open the door to much brighter LEDs, more efficient solar cells, and a new class of ‘smart’ light sources that adjust to specific environments,” Schubert says. In fact, the new optical coating could find use in just about any application where light travels into or out of a material, and its development could also advance fundamental science.

The new material has a refractive index of 1.05, which is very close to 1, the refractive index of air, and the lowest ever reported. It is orders of magnitude lower than the index of conventional antireflection coatings.

The refractive index, a fundamental property of materials, governs the amount of light a material reflects, as well as other optical properties such as diffraction, refraction, and the speed of light inside the material. “The refractive index is the most fundamental quantity in optics and photonics,” says Schubert.

See also: The World’s First Ideal Anti-Reflection Coating (Rensselaer Research Review)