Santa Barbara Infrared (SBIR) and Surrey NanoSystems (SNS) have partnered to produce a line of extended-area blackbody sources with exceptionally-high emissivity and radiometric accuracy. The resulting blackbody sources provide more accurate infrared (IR) radiometric calibration than previously achievable by drastically reducing errors due to reflected IR light from the surrounding environment.

SNS has also developed a black coating compatible with aerosol application which has performance approaching that of the CVD-grown VANTABlack^®. VANTABlack^®-S is a versatile coating based upon similar CNT technology. The proprietary material and application process results in a coating with enhanced absorption properties and a passive surface that repels water and other contaminants. VANTABlack^®-S has extremely low reflectance in the visible spectrum (less than 0.2% at 700nm), and provides state-of-the art performance out through the SWIR, MWIR and LWIR spectral ranges. The coating has been shown to have good resistance to water adsorption, thermal shock, mechanical shock and vibration. The aerosol application of the VANTABlack^®-S coating provides a significant cost reduction compared to the CVD-grown version, and also allows much larger and more complex samples to be processed. Also, a lower process temperature allows application to a wider variety of materials, including many polymers.