People can see in complete darkness using special technology used mainly for military purposes. However, night vision could now be accessible to almost everyone, thanks to an invention by American scientists from the University of Michigan.
Researchers have managed to develop a miniature multispectral infrared light detector that can be placed in the necessary (and large) quantity on the surface of contact lenses, thereby transforming them into eye lenses enabling night vision. The detector amplifies residual light and also functions as thermal imaging – it can capture thermal radiation. The key element for manufacturing the detector is graphene, a planar network of a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in the shape of hexagons connected by sp² bonds. American scientists combined two layers of graphene with an insulating layer in the middle, which enhanced the detector's capabilities for its subsequent use in creating night vision contact lenses. The application of this invention beyond military purposes, in civilian life, is broad. Seeing in the dark is useful, for example, for night security of buildings, searching for missing persons, working in unlit and hard-to-reach spaces, or simply for regular movement in dark places, e.g., on the way home from work. After all, even nighttime walks in nature would gain an entirely new dimension.