Elizabeth Gibney in Nature:
Humans have a new way of seeing infrared light, without the need for clunky night-vision goggles. Researchers have made the first contact lenses to convey infrared vision — and the devices work even when people have their eyes closed.
The team behind the invention, led by scientists at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) in Hefei, gave the lenses their power by infusing them with nanoparticles that convert near-infrared light in the 800–1,600-nanometre range into shorter-wavelength, visible light that humans can see, in the 400–700-nanometre range. The researchers estimate that the lenses cost around US$200 per pair to make. The technology, which was detailed in Cell on 22 May1, “is incredibly cool, just like something out of a science-fiction movie”, says Xiaomin Li, a chemist at Fudan University in Shanghai, China. It opens up “new possibilities for understanding the world around us”, he adds.
Pros and cons
Near-infrared light sits just outside the range of wavelengths that humans can normally detect. Some animals can sense infrared light, although probably not well enough to form images. Night-vision goggles enable humans to see infrared radiation, but they are bulky and require a power source to work. The new lenses avoid these limitations while also offering richer, multi-coloured infrared images that night-vision goggles, which operate on a monochrome green scale, typically do not.
More here.
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