Researchers at the university of Michigan, Ted Norris and Zhaohui Zhong, have created a super thin infrared light sensor using graphene that could eventually be used in the production of night vision contact lenses.
Graphene absorbs infrared rays and translates them into an electrical signal, in a similar way how silicon chips work with visible light in a digital camera.
They placed an insulating barrier between two graphene sheets and watched as electrons, set free when light touched the top layer, made their way to the bottom one. When the researchers measured a change in current from the top to the bottom layer, they were able to determine the brightness of the light that reached the graphene.
There findings, published in Nature Nanotechnology, which explains that as light hits the top graphene layer, it leaves a measurable impact on the flow of electricity below it. That produces an electrical signal that can display a night vision images.
"If we integrate it with a contact lens or other wearable electronics, it expands your vision, said Zhong. He also added, " it provides you another way of interacting with your environment".
Don't expect night vision contact lenses in the next few years. The research needs to produce greater light sensitivity, as well as it requires lots of work to build a product that could work in a broader range of temperature. And this future technology will be more help full for military action.
