Scientists are working on creating infrared contact lenses that could be used to help people see in infrared or UV wavelengths sometime within the near future.
University of Michigan researchers, led by Zhaohui Zhong, are piecing together a grapheme contact lens, which would allow the wearer to see the whole infrared spectrum, along with ultraviolet and visible light.
The lenses, once released, could be used for medical and military purposes, according to a University of Michigan press release.
Graphene, a substance that is made up one layer of atoms closely bound together, is a material so thin that it is believed to be two-dimensional.
Experts have put in motion the optical capabilities of grapheme in order to make infrared contacts a reality.
"Our work pioneered a new way to detect light," Zhong, assistant professor of electrical engineering and computer science, said according to the university press release. "We envision that people will be able to adopt this same mechanism in other material and device platforms."
Research was published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.
When grapheme is struck by a photon of light, electrons gain energy to become "hot carriers." These subatomic particles are then able to tunnel through material that usually wouldn't be penetrable.
This effect can be recorded as an image and measured.
Since grapheme is so thin, it absorbs just 2.3 percent of the light hitting the material. This means not many hot carriers are ever produced, making imaging harder.
Zhong and his colleagues were able to create the needed electric signal themselves, according to the release.
Instead of measuring the electrons given off when light touches the grapheme, they increased the electric current that is close to the signals produced by the incoming light.
The device is already small than an average pinky nail. Zhong believes the size can be reduced even more as well.
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