'Super vision' contact lenses help wearers see infrared light

A study participant prepares to wear contact lenses that can see infrared light - Photo: YUQIAN MA/YUNUO CHEN/HANG ZHAO

This new type of contact lens allows the wearer to see infrared light - electromagnetic radiation with a longer wavelength than visible light and invisible to the naked eye, according to the Guardian newspaper on May 22.

Unlike night vision goggles, however, these contact lenses do not require a power source and because they are transparent, the wearer can see infrared light and all the usual colors of visible light at the same time.

To expand human vision and enhance our experience of the world, scientists have developed nanoparticles that can convert infrared wavelengths into wavelengths in the visible range.

For this study, the team of Chinese scientists chose particles that absorb near-infrared light and convert it into visible red, green or blue light.

Transparent contact lenses under visible light (left) and when exposed to infrared light (right) - Photo: YUQIAN MA/YUNUO CHEN

The team created soft contact lenses embedded with the aforementioned upconverting nanoparticles. When worn, we can see Morse code-like signals flashing from infrared LEDs and know which direction the light is coming from.

In particular, the infrared vision of the glasses wearer becomes better when the eyes are closed. Because infrared light can penetrate deeper into the skin than visible light, the eyelids can filter out some of this visible light.

These lenses are not yet sensitive enough to see the naturally low wavelengths of infrared light, and because heat-generating objects typically emit far infrared radiation, they cannot provide thermal imaging. The team says they will focus on making the lenses more efficient and wider-field in the future.

Professor Tian Xue, a neuroscientist at the University of Science and Technology of China, said the work paves the way for a range of contact lenses, glasses and other wearable devices that could give people “super vision”. The technology could also help people with color blindness.

“If materials scientists can develop more efficient upconversion nanoparticles, we could see the infrared light around us by wearing contact lenses,” Xue added.

Even without full infrared vision, the team's current contact lenses could have a variety of applications. For example, secret messages sent in infrared light would only be visible to the contact lens wearer.

A similar approach could help people who are colorblind by converting wavelengths they can't see into colors they can see.

The study was published in the journal Cell .

ANH THU

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/kinh-ap-trong-sieu-thi-luc-giup-nguoi-deo-nhin-thay-anh-sang-hong-ngoai-20250523105314361.htm