Coating Hides Temperature Change from Infrared Cameras

An ultrathin coating was developed that contradicts a physics phenomenon of materials related to thermal radiation: The hotter an object gets, the brighter it glows. The new coating is engineered from samarium nickel oxide, a unique tunable material. The coating “breaks” the relationship between temperature and thermal radiation; essentially, there is a temperature range within which the power of the thermal radiation emitted by the coating stays the same.