 See in the dark
By Tallulah Habib
New film could deliver cheap, compact night vision.
Nothing says both “spy” and “total creep” like night vision, and now it may be able to say a whole lot more thanks to new infrared-detecting OLED film.
Dr Franky So of the University of Florida has been working with his students to create a thin film that is excited by infrared (IR) and converts it to colours we can see. The multi-layered film, inspired by the same OLED tech we see in TV screens, can be attached to anything – windows, windscreens and even sunglasses (darkglasses?).
Human beings have very limited vision in the dark because our eyes are not sensitive to certain radiation. In the past, only the military had access to night vision devices, which used IR to read what our eyes could not. Increasingly, civilians have also had access to the technology, mostly in bulky video cameras and expensive cars. Now, however, it may become so compact and affordable it will fit into cellphones.
“Ten years ago, when people talked about putting cameras in cellphones, we asked why would you want to do that? Now you cannot find a cellphone without a camera. In the future, you might not be able to find a cellphone without night vision,” says So.
At the moment the tech has only been demonstrated on one square centimetre, but So predicts we may start seeing it on shelves in just 18 months.
|
