Super black is a surface treatment developed at the National Physical Laboratory in the United Kingdom. It reflects much less light than the darkest conventional matte black paints available previously. Conventional black paint absorbs about 97.5% of the incident light. Super black absorbs approximately 99.6% of light at normal incidence. At other angles of incidence, super black is even more effective. At an angle of 45°, super black absorbs 99.9% of light. The technique used for super black is based upon chemically etching a nickel–phosphorus alloy.