How Do Night Vision Binoculars Work
Perhaps you never heard of night vision binoculars. You may have seen the use of night vision goggles in a movie where actors use the device to see something in the dark. But night vision binoculars are completely new to many people. In this post I will cover working principle of both night vision goggles and night vision binoculars. Let's first start with night vision goggles.
The working principle of night vision goggles are the device detects infrared light emitting from an object. Infrared light is invisible to us.
It is because this type of light has shorter wavelengths than visible or UV light. Light having shorter wavelengths cannot stimulate the receptors of human eyes resulting the invisibility of the light.
Infrared light is divided into 3 categories. These are
Near infrared:
The wave-length of this IR light is close to visible light which is 0.7(micron) to 1.7(micron).
Mid infrared: The wavelength range for Mid-infrared IR is 1.3 microns to 3 microns. Different types of electronic devices use this mid-range Infrared light. The most common devices are remote controls.
Thermal Infrared
The wavelength range for this type is three microns to over thirty microns.
These night vision goggles can detect the presence of Infrared light irrespective of its wavelength . All objects whether animate or inanimate emits infrared light.
If you have some preliminary ideas of light you may already know that light consists of packets of photons.
The device collects these photons or energy packs and then convert photons to electrons. It then multiply the number of electrons and projects these increases number of electrons to a phosphor screen.
The end result is an image of the object that is in the dark or in dim light.
Now let's turn our discussion to night vision binoculars.
There is a special lense in the night vision binoculars. The lens focuses the infrared light emitted from the object located in the dark.
One component of the device(night vision) is a detector element. The function of this component is to make a thermogram. A thermogram is the detail information of the object.
The detector element is then convert the thermogram into electronic impulses.
The electronic impulses are then sent to signal processing unit. The unit converts electrical impulses into data.
When this data is projected into a display, we see a picture of the object.
The working principle of night vision goggles are the device detects infrared light emitting from an object. Infrared light is invisible to us.
It is because this type of light has shorter wavelengths than visible or UV light. Light having shorter wavelengths cannot stimulate the receptors of human eyes resulting the invisibility of the light.
Infrared light is divided into 3 categories. These are
Near infrared:
The wave-length of this IR light is close to visible light which is 0.7(micron) to 1.7(micron).
Mid infrared: The wavelength range for Mid-infrared IR is 1.3 microns to 3 microns. Different types of electronic devices use this mid-range Infrared light. The most common devices are remote controls.
Thermal Infrared
The wavelength range for this type is three microns to over thirty microns.
These night vision goggles can detect the presence of Infrared light irrespective of its wavelength . All objects whether animate or inanimate emits infrared light.
If you have some preliminary ideas of light you may already know that light consists of packets of photons.
The device collects these photons or energy packs and then convert photons to electrons. It then multiply the number of electrons and projects these increases number of electrons to a phosphor screen.
The end result is an image of the object that is in the dark or in dim light.
Now let's turn our discussion to night vision binoculars.
There is a special lense in the night vision binoculars. The lens focuses the infrared light emitted from the object located in the dark.
One component of the device(night vision) is a detector element. The function of this component is to make a thermogram. A thermogram is the detail information of the object.
The detector element is then convert the thermogram into electronic impulses.
The electronic impulses are then sent to signal processing unit. The unit converts electrical impulses into data.
When this data is projected into a display, we see a picture of the object.
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