
Night vision glasses: nanocrystals allow direct vision into infrared - joshsharp
http://www.smh.com.au/technology/sci-tech/nightvision-glasses-nanocrystals-developed-at-anu-allow-direct-vision-into-the-infrared-20161207-gt5vsf.html
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kneel
These night vision glasses don't exist and the use of the phrase 'allow direct
vision' is misleading seeing as they're using high powered lasers to see the
blue shift. This lab has only made a nanocrystal that might enable this
technology one day.

The fact that everyone in the linked video is wearing funny looking green
glasses is misleading, those are just safety glasses.

These types of news blips are depressingly common in developmental science. I
can guarantee they're just looking to secure more funding.

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dhimes
Thank you. I was wondering where they got the extra energy from, as IR is less
energetic than visible. Did they use two photons to get one (ie, reduce the
intensity)? No. They use a separate light source.

So the advantage here over current tech is that you are able to see the
visible also, it seems. That is, you're looking through glass and getting all
of the visible plus enhanced IR.

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cthulhuology
Reading the article it hints at the reality that it doesn't actually work like
passive glasses as it implies. the blueshift effect happens because they're
using a laser to excite the crystal and it later emits the shifted light, but
you have to pump a lot of energy in for that output. Simple conservation of
energy implies this won't work for normal night vision applications, instead
they want to shine a laser spotlight and use the reflected infrared laser
light for vision. cool material science for sure, but not a replacement for
nightvision goggles which don't broadcast your position with a bight
spotlight.

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m4x
> The crystals act as antennaes that receive a photon emitted in the infrared,
> combine them with a photon from a laser and then "upconvert" the combined
> photon to the visible spectrum.

It doesn't sound like you need to illuminate the scene with a laser spotlight,
it sounds like they will input a small amount of laser light into the crystal
film on the glasses. The externally sourced IR photons will combine with the
internally generated laser photons and emit a visible frequency photon.

The amount of laser energy pumped into the crystal film will probably be
proportional to the amount of energy you want out of your "screen", i.e.
brightness

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lolc
Is there any chance that the "combined photon" will have the same direction as
the original one? Otherwise there will be no image, just light.

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zokier
I'd point out that night-vision and IR vision can (and even maybe should) be
considered distinct, even though admittedly they are widely mixed up in common
parlance. But especially in military night vision devices are usually based on
the principle of image intensification, i.e. amplifying the light in visible
spectrum, instead of IR imaging.

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smaddox
Not quite, since night vision goggles also amplify near IR light, which is
much more abundant at night than visible light (e.g. starlight). Also, they
can be coupled with IR LEDs or bulbs in order to gain a tactical advantage
over an enemy without night vision.

That being said, night vision and thermal vision are distinct.

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jaclaz
_Maybe_ in 5 years time and IF DARPA will allow it:

>They hope within five years they will have a prototype of their invention
that will allow the production of affordable, lightweight night-vision
glasses, as simple to wear as a pair of sunnies.

>Professor Neshev said they are discussing their next steps with DARPA, a
research and development arm of the US Department of Defence.

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gentleteblor
I hope this "trickles down" to medical applications fairly soon. I have awful
night vision, and a pair of normal looking night vision glasses would be just
the thing.

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dosshell
Did they take the biggest night googles available for the "traditional"
picture?

Those I have used from the military where much much smaller (but they did not
have autofocus).

I agree with some of the comments here: that it is misleading that they are
not passive and that no prototype exist.

Even if it is a good idea I would never invest in a company which is not
always totally honest, even in headings and pictures.

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proaralyst
I wonder what other applications this could support. Better colour displays,
where a monochromatic LED is converted to one of R, G and B?

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mc32
I think they said it right there Military applications. And if price is low
enough, you could use it to enable people to do outdoor work at night when
it's less hot in arid/hot areas with less risk of injury (due to better
vision), etc.

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deutronium
This sounds very cool, I'm curious what wavelengths of IR they can convert.

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dharma1
This is awesome. Had the same idea when i was about 15, great to see someone
making it. I wonder if it will work just for IR or also other parts of the
non-visible spectrum

