Scientists with Chin developed Contact lenseswhich They turn infrared into visible light. They used for this purpose nanoparticleswhich do not need power. Transparent lenses allow you to watch the world also in normal lighting.
– Our research opens the possibilities of creating non -invasive devices worn on the body that could give people an unavailable to an ordinary man – says the main author of the invention Tian Xue z University of Science and Technology of China.
– The material developed by us already has many potential applications. For example, shimmering infrared light could be used for sending information in security systemsrescue, encryption or to prevent forgery – he adds.
For the creation of lenses, it was used nanoparticleswhich absorb infrared light and transform them by visible waves for mammals – i.e. from 400 to 700 Nm. These particles allow the detection of so -called close infraredi.e. infrared light in wave range 800-1600 Nm – just outside the visibility to man.
Can you see infrared? Scientists created the first such lenses
Earlier, researchers showed that the nanoparticles used allow mice to see in infrared after injecting them to the retina, but the ultimate goal was to develop less invasive solution.
The researchers placed the nanoparticles in the flexible, transparent polymer that is used in production traditional contact lenses. The invention was first tested on mice and then in humans.
Mice wearing lenses showed behaviors suggesting that they can see infrared waves. For example, when they could choose between a dark ordinary box and a box illuminated by infrared light, animals with lenses chose a dark box, while mice without lenses showed no preferences.
Physiological signs of infrared vision were also observed: Mice pupils with lenses narrowed in the presence of infrared light, and brain imaging showed that infrared light They activated their visual centers.
In the case of people, the lens enabled participants to precisely detect flashing signals reminiscent of Morse's alphabet and recognition of the direction from which the infrared light came. – This is a completely unambiguous result: without lenses, the examined person sees nothing, but when he puts them, he clearly sees the flickering of infrared light – says prof. Xue.
– We also discovered that when a person closes his eyes, He receives flashing signals even betterbecause close infrared penetrates the eyelid more effectively than visible light, which reduces interference – emphasizes the expert.
The additional modification of the lenses allowed volunteers to notice Different ranges of infrared spectrum. In this case, scientists used nanoparticles that encode different lengths of infrared waves with colors. For example, waves with a length of 980 Nm were transformed into blue light, 808 Nm – into green and 1532 Nm – into red.
A breakthrough discovery of researchers. “Make invisible visible”
According to researchers, the particles used could still be modified so that help people with color vision disorders To see the lengths of waves that they do not normally see. – transforming the red light visible into something like green light, this technology for people with color vision disorders could make invisible visible – says prof. Xue.
The lenses have some restrictions – one of them concerns the ability to record small details, which results from a close position relative to the retina and the related distribution of transformed waves. That is why researchers also developed Similarly working glasses allowing you to obtain images in greater resolution.
Currently, lenses are able to detect only infrared radiation emitted by diodes, but researchers are working on increasing their sensitivity. – In the future, working with scientists dealing with materials and with experts in the field of optics, we hope to create a contact lens with higher resolution spatial and greater tenderness – says prof. Xue.