Short-wave infrared light (SWIR) is useful for many things: it helps to sort out damaged fruit, for temperature monitoring and checking silicon chips, and it enables night vision devices with sharp images.
However, SWIR cameras have so far been based on expensive electronics. Researchers at Empa, EPFL, ETH Zurich and the University of Siena have now developed a SWIR screen consisting of just eight layers on a glass surface. This could turn infrared cameras, which are still very expensive today, into useful everyday objects. The Empa researchers have now succeeded in capturing SWIR light with a single component and making it visible. The component developed at Empa is basically an OLED display with three additional layers. The SWIR light passes through an electrically conductive glass pane onto a dye layer in a photodetector. There, electrons begin to migrate - this migration movement is amplified by an electrical voltage. The electrical charges then migrate into the OLED layer, where they generate a green light spot. Electronic signal processing by a computer is not necessary.
