Night vision is the latest technology to be incorporated into mobile phones, thanks to a University of Florida engineering researcher, who developed a small night vision device that can also be embedded into eyeglasses and car windscreens.
The device mentioned above is the size of a nickel and uses organic light-emitting diode technology, similar to the one used on cellphone and laptop displays. The advantage of such technology is that it produces a light and inexpensive component, that can easily be incorporated into a cellphone.
What separates this device from standard night vision goggles is that the latter rely on photocathodes to convert invisible infrared light photons into electrons. Next, the electrons are accelerated under high voltage and pass through a phosphorous screen, with the result being the famous greenish images of combat areas… and Paris Hilton.
The new technology only needs a photodetector connected in series with an LED and the device uses glass at the moment, but it’ll be replaced with plastics, for lighter weight. Still looking for a decent use of night vision on a cellphone, though…
[via tgdaily]
