Graphene Thermopile May Grant Predator Heat Vision To Humans
In the 1987 movie Predator, the aliens make use of slim, sophisticated devices to see the heat signatures of their opponents. Not to mention the succeeding movies in this franchise.
(Predator heat vision compilation video)
MIT researchers have been working on devices that will allow human beings to make use of heat imaging, without the bulky cryogenic cooling systems and other bulky tech that plague human devices.
To find a more practical solution, researchers at MIT, Harvard, Army Research Laboratory, and University of California, Riverside, have developed an advanced device by integrating graphene with silicon microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) to make a flexible, transparent, and low-cost device for the mid-infrared range.
Testing showed it could be used to detect a person’s heat signature at room temperature (300 K or 27 degrees C/80 degrees F) without cryogenic cooling.
Future advances could make the device even more versatile. The researchers say that a thermal sensor could be based on a single layer of graphene, which would make it both transparent and flexible. Also, manufacturing could be simplified, which would bring costs down.
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