Infrared has a wavelength between 760 nanometers and 1 millimeter. It is invisible light with a longer wavelength than red light. It is divided into three types: near-infrared, mid-infrared, and far-infrared.
American scientists have recently developed an infrared image sensor with the size of a fingernail using graphene. Unlike the current common mid-infrared and far-infrared image sensors, the new technology can operate without a bulky cooling device, making it possible to observe the full infrared spectrum at room temperature for the first time. Due to its small size and light weight, it can even be integrated into contact lenses or mobile phones, and is expected to be used in many fields such as military, security, and medicine in the future.
Infrared has a wavelength between 760 nanometers and 1 millimeter. It is invisible light with a longer wavelength than red light. It is divided into three types: near infrared, mid infrared, and far infrared. Ordinary cameras only need one chip to shoot visible light, while infrared imaging technology needs to see images of various spectrums in near infrared, mid infrared and far infrared at the same time. Even more challenging is that mid-infrared and far-infrared sensors usually must operate at extremely low temperatures.
The research conducted by Zhong Zhaohui, an assistant professor of electrical engineering and computer science at the University of Michigan, and Professor Ted Norris of the same school used graphene as a raw material. Graphene is a single-layer structure made of carbon atoms that can detect infrared, visible, and ultraviolet light across the entire spectrum. However, due to the poor ability of graphene to absorb light (2.3%), it is not enough to generate enough electrical signals, and related research has been stalled. Zhong Zhaohui said: The biggest problem faced by the previous generation of graphene infrared sensors is that the sensitivity is too poor to meet the needs of commercial equipment.
In order to overcome this obstacle, Zhong Zhaohui and his team improved the process of graphene generating electrical signals. According to the physicist organization network reported on March 17, they set up an insulating layer between the two graphene sheets, and the bottom layer has current flowing through. When light hits the top graphene, the device releases electrons, creating positively charged holes. Then, under the action of quantum mechanisms, electrons pass through the middle insulating layer and reach the bottom graphene layer. At this time, the positively charged holes left on the upper graphene will generate an electric field and affect the current of the lower graphene. By measuring the change in current, the brightness of the light shining on the upper graphene can be inferred.
Zhong Zhaohui said that the new method for the first time allowed the sensitivity of mid-infrared and far-infrared sensors to reach a new level, which is completely comparable to traditional infrared sensors that require cooling devices to operate. And the device is only one fingernail size, it is easy to integrate. He said that if such a detector can be integrated into contact lenses or other wearable electronic devices, it will hopefully provide people with an unprecedented new way to interact with the environment. At the same time, the technology has also opened up new imagination space for the application of infrared technology in military, security, medical and other fields.
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