Scientists put color on your bling with micro carvings, gangsters pacified

[img]http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/11/ba3.jpg[/img]
Remember that time when you sipped some herbal tea and thought, "I
really want a pink gold ring?" Yeah, that was some good tea alright,
but the brainiacs at the University of Southampton have actually found
a way to achieve this potential fashion trendsetter. The idea is
simple: rather than coating metals -- especially naturally colored
ones like gold and copper -- with paint, these folks alter their color
by using an ion beam to carve fine patterns that are smaller than
visible light's wavelength. The resultant metamaterial dramatically
boosts the metals' light absorption efficiency, thus reflecting a
different color depending on the pattern's radius and etch depth. So
for instance, gold can reflect colors ranging from orange to red to
green to brown with its ring pattern etch depth ranging from 85nm to
205nm, respectively. See? We told you it's simple, but there's also
some visual aid after the break to wrap up this science lesson.