Night Vision: A Selfie with an Owl | Vikki Academy

Опубликовано: 12 Июль 2015
на канале: Vikki Academy

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NIGHT VISION

Evolution provided nocturnal animals with special abilities to find their way around in the dark. Owls, for example, have developed large eyes that fill over half their skull. But humans, even those who sleep all day long and eat plenty of carrots, still need light to see in the dark.

Armies have been trying to develop night vision capabilities ever since WWII. Today’s much-improved night vision equipment is still primarily used for military applications; and it is expensive and bulky. But a team led by researchers at Ben-Gurion University in Israel is developing technology that promises night-vision capabilities at low cost and microscopic size for non-military uses.

The researchers are developing an ultra thin coating that converts invisible infrared light into visible light. The price of eyeglasses with this kind of technology will be a fraction of that of the military kind.
How does this work?

The coating utilizes nano-photonics technologies to absorb infrared light and to convert it into an electrical current, which is, in turn, converted into an image the eye can see. This new technology will not replace the heavy military thermal systems that enable soldiers to see many miles ahead. But, weighing under three ounces and using only a tiny 20-volt battery will offer visibility of about 100 yards. It will be like looking around under full moonlight.

This amount of visibility could be of great help to homeland security officials, hikers, emergency medical rescue personnel, and more. The research team will also try to apply this technology to cameras – including cell phone cameras – so maybe you’ll be able to take that owl selfie you always wanted...