Graphene contact lenses could give you Predator-vision

The first room-temperature light detector that can sense the full infrared spectrum has the potential to put heat vision technology into a contact lens.

Unlike comparable mid- and far-infrared detectors currently on the market, the detector developed by University of Michigan engineering researchers doesn't need bulky cooling equipment to work.

"We can make the entire design super-thin," said Zhaohui Zhong, assistant professor of electrical engineering and computer science. "It can be stacked on a contact lens or integrated with a cell phone."

Thermal vision: Graphene light detector first to span infrared spectrum

To make the device, they put an insulating barrier layer between two graphene sheets. The bottom layer had a current running through it. When light hit the top layer, it freed electrons, creating positively charged holes. Then, the electrons used a quantum mechanical trick to slip through the barrier and into the bottom layer of graphene.

The positively charged holes, left behind in the top layer, produced an electric field that affected the flow of electricity through the bottom layer. By measuring the change in current, the team could deduce the brightness of the light hitting the graphene. The new approach allowed the sensitivity of a room-temperature graphene device to compete with that of cooled mid-infrared detectors for the first time.

Of course the topic title is far off but its always nice to see the wacky applications, a new light detector made of graphene have many possibilities in different applications, devices in the near future will be able to interact with the world in ways we don't even imagine today, everything will have inexpensive microscopic detectors that consume smalls amounts of energy.

Different kinds of detectors are one of the most promising short term applications for graphene, if it were just easy to produce and handle in an industrial scale, its even hard to manipulate in lab scale, but in 5-10 years it will find some place in our everyday living.

reply to post by Indigent


- quantum mechanical trick - Hmmm, this sounds rather Harry Potter / Dr Who...

Anyways, love to see stuff like this, the Japanese professor Michio Kaku in his presentation "The World in 2030" by Dr. Michio Kaku, he mentions these things. However, I see it unlikely that we will hear too much about these as the production of said items comes into fruition. As soon as the military's' have access to these things, they will keep it out of the public's 'eye' as much as possible, then whack a hefty price tag on them (which would happen anyway) to ensure that lower market spenders can't afford to buy these potentially battlefield changing lenses.

PS. Dragon Lizards/ Armadillo Lizards are ace, do you know where I can get one, there endangered aren't they?

reply to post by Indigent


There are some 'premium' cars that, evidently, have infra red sensors that project onto the windscreen to improve visibility in poor conditions. I was listening to an interview with a mid-range celebrity who said that the sensors had enabled him to spot a photographer hiding in the bushes when he pulled up in his car outside his home. A pair of shades with the same capability could come in handy for someone with such issues, but also on the reverse side, for stalkers and photographers to get ever more invasive.

All that ignored, kind of fun for just going out into the woods at night.

reply to post by KilgoreTrout


Yeah there is current technology that does the same, night-vision goggles for example, this would allow miniaturization drastically, i dont think to a contact level lense but who knows.

reply to post by D0M1N0


Quantum level stuff is pretty weird.

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. Arthur C. Clarke, "Profiles of The Future", 1961

About the lizard i think it is not endanger and it actually usually sold as a pet, its African so i guess would be hard to find in many places

deer huntin, yeah!

as long as the deer don't get some

Soon we will have to be careful because it may get difficult to tell your shades from you night glasses. Perhaps we could call these nighties ..... well, OK, that is already taken ... Damn.

P

Indigent
reply to post by KilgoreTrout

 

Yeah there is current technology that does the same, night-vision goggles for example, this would allow miniaturization drastically, i dont think to a contact level lense but who knows.

Far more discrete either way.

I've just had a look up of the properties of graphene...fascinating material with loads of possible applications. Pricey though...

Potential applications include lightweight, thin, flexible, yet durable display screens, electric circuits, and solar cells, as well as various medical, chemical and industrial processes enhanced or enabled by the use of new graphene materials.[167]

In 2008, graphene produced by exfoliation was one of the most expensive materials on Earth, with a sample with the area of the cross section of a human hair costing more than $1,000 as of April 2008 (about $100,000,000/cm2).[30] Since then, exfoliation procedures have been scaled up, and now companies sell graphene in large quantities.[168] The price of epitaxial graphene on SiC is dominated by the substrate price, which was approximately $100/cm2 as of 2009.

en.wikipedia.org...



Really interesting...thanks for the thread, it led to me learning loads of new stuff

graphene directly on the eyeball?....I'll let someone else be the guinea pig, before I know the long term affects of contact with the soft tissue of the eye. I only have 2 and I want to keep both of them....corporations sometimes want the profits, before they realize the downside of their product.

reply to post by jimmyx


Did you read the source? there are no contact lenses.

Even if someone ever make contacts for this purpose why do you think graphene would ever be in contact with the eyes? graphene is less than 1 nm thick, it requires 2 layers for this application, contacts are around 1mm

Graphene might make a nice flip down lens, like the polaroids i use to spot under water rocks when i am boating on georgian bay
which has thirty million rocks

reply to post by KilgoreTrout


Yea, they call it a HUD, or Heads Up Display. The new BMW i series has them as standard, pretty cool. It can be cast onto any transparent display and it presents data without requiring users to look away from their usual viewpoints. The origin of the name stems from a pilot being able to view information with the head positioned "up" and looking forward, instead of angled down looking at lower instruments.

reply to post by Indigent


I will look for one in this country immediately

Indigent
reply to post by jimmyx

 

Did you read the source? there are no contact lenses.

Even if someone ever make contacts for this purpose why do you think graphene would ever be in contact with the eyes? graphene is less than 1 nm thick, it requires 2 layers for this application, contacts are around 1mm

my faith in Q & A for "new" consumer products manufactured on a corporate level, is pretty low. especially products on a nano-sized scale. the clichés "acceptable rate of failure" and "long term side-affects" comes to mind. your implied ignorance on my part, of products that contain graphene is correct, but, it does not apply to the corporate culture of doing business.

reply to post by jimmyx


I did not implied ignorance from you , its impossible to know all and its ok to miss a detail now and them, I do not understand the hostility about everything now days

reply to post by Indigent


That is awesome I have spent the last week researching how to make graphene (there are many ways).

Its cool to see a thread about it this morning, S&F for you my friend.

Predator vision?? Say what?!
The Predator was my favorite, that's totally what caught my attention. That would be so much fun to put on and run around in the dark when out camping.
..and I love dem girdled lizard's too! So a S&F for you!

Bigfoot researchers are going to go wild for this....LOL!!

Hogs don't sweat. They lack sweat glands. Because of this they can easily over heat and die during the summer months. Thus, hogs tend to be most active in the twilight and dark hours.

It would certainly make hog hunting more productive to have an ability to see them during their waking hours.