Radio Cadena Agramonte emisiora de Camagüey
China, May 24 – A team of Chinese scientists has created contact lenses that allow vision in the dark, even with eyes closed, by converting infrared light into visible light.
According to an article published in the journal Cell, unlike infrared night vision goggles, these lenses do not require a power source and allow the user to perceive multiple infrared wavelengths.
They can see both infrared and visible light simultaneously, although infrared vision improved when participants closed their eyes.
Our research opens up the potential for noninvasive, wearable devices that provide visual monitoring to people, said lead author Tian Xue, a neuroscientist at the University of Science and Technology of China.
"This material has many immediate potential applications. For example, flickering infrared light could be used to transmit information in security, ransomware, encryption, or anti-counterfeiting environments," the specialist explained.
The experts explained that contact lens technology uses nanoparticles that absorb infrared light and convert it into wavelengths visible to the mammalian eye—e.g., electromagnetic radiation in the 400 to 700 nanometer (nm) range.
The nanoparticles specifically enable the detection of near-infrared light, which is in the 800 to 1,600 nm range, just above what humans can already see.
We also discovered, Xue said, that by closing their eyes, the subject can better receive this flickering information, as near-infrared light penetrates the eyelid more effectively than visible light, so there is less interference from visible light.
In addition to allowing users to perceive more detail within the infrared spectrum, these color-coding nanoparticles could be modified to help color-blind people see wavelengths they otherwise couldn't detect, the scientist noted. (Text and Photo: Cubasí)
