When the surrounding environment is plunged into darkness, how exactly does the night vision goggles play the magical effect of "lighting up the night"? This is due to the unique working principle of the night vision goggles.

1. Amplify residual light

The secret of the night vision goggles being able to "see" the surrounding scenery is that they can capture and amplify the extremely weak residual light around them. In the environment that seems pitch black to us, there are still some light sources, such as moonlight, starlight, and weak light reflected by various light sources. These lights are too dim for the human eye to recognize, but the night vision goggles can collect and gather them together through a sophisticated optical lens system, and then further amplify them through the image sensor to become an image that can be recognized by the human eye, thereby "lighting up" the surrounding scenery in the field of vision.

2. Electronic image processing

The optically magnified image must also undergo electronic image processing to become a clearly visible video image. First, the camera converts the optically magnified image into an electronic signal; then, after processing by the digital image processor, the noise points and various defects are removed. After such multi-level amplification and processing, it becomes a high-quality high-definition image that can be clearly presented on the night vision goggles' display screen.

3. Different types of night vision devices

Based on the working principle, night vision devices can be divided into active night vision devices and passive night vision devices:

(1) Active night vision devices emit invisible infrared rays or other electromagnetic waves of other wavelengths to illuminate the surrounding scenery. This "active lighting" method allows night vision devices to obtain clear images. However, it is also more likely to expose the user's position.

Active infrared night vision devices

(2) Passive night vision devices only rely on residual light in the environment and do not emit any light. It has stronger concealment, but the imaging effect is slightly worse than that of active night vision devices.

Passive infrared thermal imager

Each type of night vision device has its own advantages and disadvantages, and users can choose according to actual needs.

Which is better, active night vision device or passive night vision device?

In summary, the working principle of night vision devices mainly includes three major elements: optical amplification, electronic processing and imaging. The working principles of different types of night vision devices are somewhat different, but they all follow the above core points. It is this unique working mechanism that gives night vision devices the powerful ability to "light up the night."