These charts were built to identify known materials that control electromagnetic waves — and to predict new ones that can be tested.
Even though some materials have similar characteristics, none operate exactly the same. You could say they all react, or "couple," with electromagnetic waves in different ways. Gold, Silver and Copper all conduct electricity, but each does it slightly differently. The first thing you need to know is which materials fall into that category, so you can discover the one that is right for a particular application — the same way copper, cast iron, and stainless steel pans all conduct heat, but each does it differently enough to change how you cook.
Visible light, radio, infrared, x-rays, gamma — these are all electromagnetic waves, each at a different frequency. The charts call them energy bands, and let you explore them from different angles.
Every chart is built from the same three building blocks: energy bands, control functions, and materials. Let's look at each one.
The colored strip below appears on every chart. Each segment is one energy band — a range of electromagnetic wave frequencies. Click any band to learn what it is.
When energy hits a material, the material does something with it. These are the control functions — the behaviors that every chart classifies. They are organized into three groups: things that change the energy while it flows, and things that stop it. Click any function to learn what it means.
Now let's put the pieces together. Below is one function — Reflector — at one band — Visible Light. These are the materials that bounce visible light back. On the charts, each material appears as a clickable tag. Click any one to see what it does across every energy band.
You've seen the three building blocks — energy bands, control functions, and materials. Every chart uses the same system. Each one organizes the same data differently — by element, by compound, by control completeness — so you can find what you need from whichever direction makes sense. The charts are a map, and some of the territory is still blank. Every band where a function is empty is a prediction waiting to be tested.