page_title: Transparent ceramics
section_title: Night vision
hierarchical_section_title: Transparent ceramics / Night vision
caption_attribution_description: Thermogram of a lion
context_page_description: Many ceramic materials, both glassy and crystalline, have found use as optically transparent materials in various forms from bulk solid-state components to high surface area forms such as thin films, coatings, and fibers. Such devices have found widespread use for various applications in the electro-optical field including: optical fibers for guided lightwave transmission, optical switches, laser amplifiers and lenses, hosts for solid-state lasers and optical window materials for gas lasers, and infrared heat seeking devices for missile guidance systems and IR night vision.
  While single-crystalline ceramics may be largely defect-free, optical transparency in polycrystalline materials is limited by the amount of light that is scattered by their microstructural features. The amount of light scattering therefore depends on the wavelength of the incident radiation, or light.
  For example, since visible light has a wavelength scale on the order of hundreds of nanometers, scattering centers will have dimensions on a similar spatial scale.
context_section_description: A night vision device (NVD) is an optical instrument that allows images to be produced in levels of light approaching total darkness. They are most often used by the military and law enforcement agencies, but are available to civilian users. Night vision devices were first used in World War II,
  and came into wide use during the Vietnam War. The technology has evolved greatly since their introduction, leading to several "generations" of night vision equipment with performance increasing and price decreasing. The United States Air Force is experimenting with Panoramic Night Vision Goggles (PNVGs) which double the user's field of view to approximately 95 degrees by using four 16 mm image intensifiers tubes, rather than the more standard two 18 mm tubes.
  Thermal images are visual displays of the amount of infrared (IR) energy emitted, transmitted, and reflected by an object. Because there are multiple sources of the infrared energy, it is difficult to get an accurate temperature of an object using this method. A thermal imaging camera is capable of performing algorithms to interpret that data and build an image. Although the image shows the viewer an approximation of the temperature at which the object is operating, the camera is using multiple sources of data based on the areas surrounding the object to determine that value rather than detecting the temperature.
  Night vision infrared devices image in the near-infrared, just beyond the visual spectrum, and can see emitted or reflected near-infrared in complete visual darkness. All objects above the absolute zero temperature (0 K) emit infrared radiation. Hence, an excellent way to measure thermal variations is to use an infrared vision device, usually a focal plane array (FPA) infrared camera capable of detecting radiation in the mid (3 to 5 μm) and long (7 to 14 μm) wave infrared bands, denoted as MWIR and LWIR, corresponding to two of the high transmittance infrared windows. Abnormal temperature profiles at the surface of an object are an indication of a potential problem.Infrared thermography, thermal imaging, and thermal video, are examples of infrared imaging science. Thermal imaging cameras detect radiation in the infrared range of the electromagnetic spectrum (roughly 900–14,000 nanometers or 0.9–14 μm) and produce images of that radiation, called thermograms.
  Since infrared radiation is emitted by all objects near room temperature, according to the black body radiation law, thermography makes it possible to see one's environment with or without visible illumination. The amount of radiation emitted by an object increases with temperature. Therefore, thermography allows one to see variations in temperature. When viewed through a thermal imaging camera, warm objects stand out well against cooler backgrounds; humans and other warm-blooded animals become easily visible against the environment, day or night. As a result, thermography is particularly useful to the military and to security services.
caption: Thermogram of a lion
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