Andor Technology

How night vision works: Everything you always wanted to know about night vision including low-light imaging techniques, thermal imaging and near-infrared illumination. Everything you always wanted to know about night vision including low-light imaging techniques, thermal imaging and near-infrared illumination. Night Vision equipment is pretty cool... gadgets. They let you see in low light or no light conditions. If you are curious, just like I was, to understand how night vision works, you are at the right place! Before we understand how night vision works, it is important to understand how normal human vision works. Lets start! How do we see in the dark? Our eyes happened to have taken thousands of years to evolve to its present state that we have today. We humans evolved to sleep during the nights and be awake during the day. We perceive light through our photo-receptors present in our eyes. There are two types of photo-receptors in our eyes. The Rods help in perceiving only light and the cones help us see different colors. We have about 120 million rods and just 6 million cones, the rods and the cones, combined give us a vibrant and light filled vision. Human eyes are quite contrasting to the eyes of an owl, because they have evolved into nocturnal creatures. They have a significantly higher number of rod photo-receptors that enable them to see in the dark very easily compared to humans. Now, lets see the different techniques that can be used to see better in the dark. The image intensifier comprises an information surface, a photocathode, a bunch cathode, an anode and a yield surface in a vacuum state. Image Intensifiers convert low light into electrons, then amplify them and the electrons are again converted into light. As light falls on the objective lens (1) (on the left), the image is focused onto the photocathode. Photocathode then releases electrons due to the photoelectric effect and the released electrons are accelerated using high voltages into the Microchannel Plate. After passing through the ...Read More