Infrared glasses that will become visible in the dark within 5 years may be realized

Australian researchers are developing crystals that can convert infrared rays that human beings can not feel to visible light simply by transmitting them. Application of this technology is expected to realize eyeglasses that can be seen in darkness and glasses that can sense the color according to temperature.

Nonlinear Generation of Vector Beams From AlGaAs Nanoantennas - Nano Letters (ACS Publications)
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.nanolett.6b03525

Night-vision glasses: Nanocrystals developed at ANU allow direct vision into the infrared
http://www.smh.com.au/technology/sci-tech/nightvision-glasses-nanocrystals-developed-at-anu-allow-direct-vision-into-the-infrared-20161207-gt5vsf.html

Research teams such as Professor Dragomil Neshev of the Australian International University have found that infrared rays can be seen by humansVisible rayWe have developed a crystal of functionality to convert to wavelength of. It is said that this crystal has only 1 / 500th of the thickness of the hair and uses aluminum · gallium arsenide.


Human eyes can only detect visible rays with wavelengths from 360 nm to 830 nm, and infrared, gamma rays and ultraviolet rays outside this wavelength range can not be felt and can not be seen. Therefore, as seen in the darkness, a night vision scope has been developed to capture a few photons and convert it into electrons and visualize it, but because of the necessity of power supply and the large size of the device, I can not say.


On the other hand, crystals developed by Professor Nesshef are extremely thin devices that can convert light of a wavelength that can not be detected by human beings to visible light, so for example, they have the performance of night vision scope by coating crystal on the lens Glasses can be realized. Also, since it can convert infrared according to temperature, it is possible to make temperature goggles which can understand temperature by color difference. "You can expect that hot objects are blue, cold objects look reddish, and of course you can not know the color of infrared until you actually see with this eye," Neshev says.

At the time of writing, the Australian International University research team has been able to convert only high-density single-frequency infrared light into visible light, but within the next 5 years aiming for practical application of lightweight and inexpensive infrared spectacles like sunglasses So, the US Department of DefenseDARPAIt is planned that joint research with. It is obvious that the aim of DARPA is in military use, but this crystal is expected to be applicable not only to infrared glasses but also to anti-counterfeiting devices for banknotes and windshields for automobiles that can run safely at night.