Night Vision R&D 1974 US Army; Research and Development Progress Report No. 53 (Patreon)

more at http://quickfound.net/

Originally a public domain film from the National Archives, slightly cropped to remove uneven edges, with the aspect ratio corrected, and one-pass brightness-contrast-color correction & mild video noise reduction applied.

The soundtrack was also processed with volume normalization, noise reduction, clipping reduction, and/or equalization (the resulting sound, though not perfect, is far less noisy than the original).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_vision

Wikipedia license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Night vision is the ability to see in low-light conditions. Whether by biological or technological means, night vision is made possible by a combination of two approaches: sufficient spectral range, and sufficient intensity range. Humans have poor night vision compared to many animals, in part because the human eye lacks a tapetum lucidum...

Night-useful spectral range techniques can sense radiation that is invisible to a human observer. Human vision is confined to a small portion of the electromagnetic spectrum called visible light. Enhanced spectral range allows the viewer to take advantage of non-visible sources of electromagnetic radiation (such as near-infrared or ultraviolet radiation). Some animals such as the mantis shrimp and trout can see using much more of the infrared and/or ultraviolet spectrum than humans.

Intensity range

Sufficient intensity range is simply the ability to see with very small quantities of light.

Many animals have better night vision than humans do, the result of one or more differences in the morphology and anatomy of their eyes. These include having a larger eyeball, a larger lens, a larger optical aperture (the pupils may expand to the physical limit of the eyelids), more rods than cones (or rods exclusively) in the retina, and a tapetum lucidum.

Enhanced intensity range is achieved via technological means through the use of an image intensifier, gain multiplication CCD, or other very low-noise and high-sensitivity arrays of photodetectors...

Image intensification

This magnifies the amount of received photons from various natural sources such as starlight or moonlight. Examples of such technologies include night glasses and low light cameras. In the military context, Image Intensifiers are often called "Low Light TV" since the video signal is often transmitted to a display within a control center. These are usually integrated into a sensor containing both visible and IR detectors and the streams are used independently or in fused mode, depending on the mission at hand's requirements.

The image intensifier is a vacuum-tube based device (photomultiplier tube) that can generate an image from a very small number of photons (such as the light from stars in the sky) so that a dimly lit scene can be viewed in real-time by the naked eye via visual output, or stored as data for later analysis. While many believe the light is "amplified," it is not. When light strikes a charged photocathode plate, electrons are emitted through a vacuum tube and strike the microchannel plate. This causes the image screen to illuminate with a picture in the same pattern as the light that strikes the photocathode and on a wavelength the human eye can see. This is much like a CRT television, but instead of color guns the photocathode does the emitting.

The image is said to become "intensified" because the output visible light is brighter than the incoming light, and this effect directly relates to the difference in passive and active night vision goggles. Currently, the most popular image intensifier is the drop-in ANVIS module, though many other models and sizes are available at the market. Recently, the US Navy announced intentions to procure a dual-color variant of the ANVIS for use in the cockpit of airborne platforms...

Active illumination couples imaging intensification technology with an active source of illumination in the near infrared (NIR) or shortwave infrared (SWIR) band. Examples of such technologies include low light cameras.

Active infrared night-vision combines infrared illumination of spectral range 700–1,000 nm (just below the visible spectrum of the human eye) with CCD cameras sensitive to this light. The resulting scene, which is apparently dark to a human observer, appears as a monochrome image on a normal display device...