Night-Vision Contact Lenses

[sky otter]

boy do i want a pair of these...


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/20/night-vision-contact-lenses_n_4992829.html



Night-Vision Contact Lenses That Use Infared Technology May Soon Be Possible,
Researchers Say
Posted: 03/20/2014 8:46 am EDT Updated: 03/20/2014 11:59 am EDT 
Emily Thomas



Those night-vision devices used by hunters and soldiers may soon get a lot smaller -- small enough, in fact, to be built right in to contact lenses.

That's the word from University of Michigan researchers, who say they've created the first-ever full-spectrum infrared light detector that works at room temperature. Conventional night-vision devices require bulky built-in cooling units to work properly.

Night-vision technology makes it possible to see light that is imperceptible to our eyes, and heat that radiates from the bodies of people and animals in the dark.

"We can make the entire design super-thin," Dr. Zhaohui Zhong, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at the university, said in a written statement. "It can be stacked on a contact lens or integrated with a cell phone."

The key to the new technology is a lightweight and super-strong form of carbon known as graphene. Ordinarily, graphene absorbs only about 2.3 percent of light that hits it -- not enough to generate a usable infrared signal. But by combining two layers of graphene with an insulator, the researchers were able to boost the signal dramatically. Sensors made of sandwiched graphene can detect the full infrared spectrum, in addition to visible and ultraviolet light.

Zhong and his team have yet to integrate their technology into contact lenses, but he says the technological pathway to such devices is clear.

"If we integrate it with a contact lens or other wearable electronics, it expands your vision," Zhong said. "It provides you another way of interacting with your environment."

And wearable night-vision contacts are just one possible application of the new technology. Infrared devices are also used to identify gas leaks, help doctors find blood vessels and even allow art historians to see sketches under layers of paint.

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

A paper describing the research was published online March 16 in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.


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http://www.nature.com/nnano/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nnano.2014.31.html


Nature Nanotechnology |
Engineering bright sub-10-nm upconverting nanocrystals for single-molecule imaging

Abstract
Abstract• References• Author information• Supplementary information The ability to detect light over a broad spectral range is central to several technological applications in imaging, sensing, spectroscopy and communication1,
2. Graphene is a promising candidate material for ultra-broadband photodetectors, as its absorption spectrum covers the entire ultraviolet to far-infrared range3, 4. However, the responsivity of graphene-based photodetectors has so far been limited to tens of mA W?1
(refs 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10) due to the small optical absorption of a monolayer of carbon atoms. Integration of colloidal quantum dots in the light absorption layer can improve the responsivity of graphene photodetectors to ~1 × 107 A W?1 (ref. 11), but the spectral range of photodetection is reduced because light absorption occurs in the quantum dots.
Here, we report an ultra-broadband photodetector design based on a graphene double-layer heterostructure. The detector is a phototransistor consisting of a pair of stacked graphene monolayers (top layer, gate; bottom layer, channel) separated by a thin tunnel barrier.
Under optical illumination, photoexcited hot carriers generated in the top layer tunnel into the bottom layer, leading to a charge build-up on the gate and a strong photogating effect on the channel conductance.
The devices demonstrated room-temperature photodetection from the visible to the mid-infrared range, with mid-infrared responsivity higher than 1 A W?1, as required by most applications12. These results address key challenges for broadband infrared detectors, and are promising for the development of graphene-based hot-carrier optoelectronic applications.

[The Seeker]

sounds a lot like the lenses alledgedly found on the eyes of the ebe's in the alledged alien autopsies...

i want a set also...


seeker

[astr0144]

Could offer some very interesting experiences...maybe it will be ET technology !

But I thought Otters may be quite contempt to do their hunting and fishing in day light ! and be tucked up in bed in their den when darkness arrives..

boy do i want a pair of these...