Night Vision Contact Lenses May Soon be Possible

Researchers at the University of Michigan have developed an infrared sensor using graphene, a tightly-packed layer of carbon atoms, that could eventually be used in the production of night vision contact lenses.

“We can make the entire design super thin,” Zhaohui Zhong, an assistant professor at the university, said in a statement. “It can be stacked on a contact lens or integrated with a cell phone.”

Graphene absorbs infrared rays and translates them into an electrical signal, in a similar way on how silicon chips work with visible light in a digital camera.

The team placed an insulating layer between two graphene layers and then added electric current. When infrared light hits the layered product, its electrical reaction is amplified strongly enough to be converted into a visible image.

“Our work pioneered a new way to detect light,” Zhong said. “We envision that people will be able to adopt this same mechanism in other material and device platforms.”

Even though this new sensor, which is smaller than a pinky nail, could have many benefits in the scientific and military communities, the research still needs to produce greater light sensitivity, as well as the ability to work in a broader range of temperatures to function properly outside the lab.

The research done on the infrared sensor was published in the academic journal Nature Nanotechnology.

Sources: mashable.com, wired.com