Photographers have always sought the capture sights foreign and unique in the eyes of their audience- a pursuit which oft leads them across the globe to places beyond the imagination of others. Technology has lent its ever-present hand to the effort, offering massive improvements in lenses, imaging technology, and means of (safe) transportation.
In order to achieve increasingly fantastic images, a number of researchers have begun the development of entirely new imaging technologies, hoping to allow a glimpse at that rarely seen short of a million-dollar budget: light spectra drastically exceeding that of human vision.
Newer fields of science- such as the revered yet misunderstood aspects of quantum mechanics- have recently been applied to specialized optics (such as Raman spectrometry, astrophysics, and femto-scale imaging), but remain largely outside the consumer's grasp. However, the the advent of lower-cost "meta-materials" capable of exhibiting effects like the Stokes Shift via quantum wells have opened the gates to consumer-available, perhaps even consumer-fabricable specialty lenses.
These lenses would allow normal, affordable cameras to view ultraviolet, infrared, radiation, and perhaps even certain types of lower-frequency "radio" waves (via an auxiliary scintillator energized by an extra power source)- a technology which opens to door to widely-available night/thermal imaging, radiation visualization, and more generally, an entirely new manner of "seeing" things, mimicking the spectral perception of birds, snakes, or even our own satellites.
The principle behind this, despite its intimidating name containing the naught but terrifying "quantum" word, is relatively easy to visualize: light waves, as their name might suggest, oscillate as they move through space- something best imagined for our purpose as a very, very bumpy road. Now, perhaps in the days of old, our childhood friend has decided to appropriate an old wheelbarrow and take us on a (somewhat terrifying) ride down the bumpy road, resulting in a very sore butt and an even greater number of bruises; years later, we revisit the spot in our fancy grown-up vehicle, complete with suspension and all the luxuries of adulthood. Despite our traumatic memories, the bumps are far less noticeable, and not nearly as fast as before. Just like the springs in our car's suspension, the Stokes Shift phenomena relies on an atomic "suspension", using the bonds to a similar end.
Thus, when a higher-energy (frequency, in this case) wave hits our lens, it acts just like the vehicle's suspension and lessens the energy thereof, resulting in a decrease in frequency- ie, bringing a signal in the range of ultraviolet or radiation down into the visual spectrum. Likewise, this process can work in reverse (imagine hitting those same bumps at 150mph, instead), taking an external energy source which it contributes to the signal, raising signals in the far infrared (thermal signatures) or near infrared to the visual spectrum.
In order to achieve increasingly fantastic images, a number of researchers have begun the development of entirely new imaging technologies, hoping to allow a glimpse at that rarely seen short of a million-dollar budget: light spectra drastically exceeding that of human vision.
Newer fields of science- such as the revered yet misunderstood aspects of quantum mechanics- have recently been applied to specialized optics (such as Raman spectrometry, astrophysics, and femto-scale imaging), but remain largely outside the consumer's grasp. However, the the advent of lower-cost "meta-materials" capable of exhibiting effects like the Stokes Shift via quantum wells have opened the gates to consumer-available, perhaps even consumer-fabricable specialty lenses.
These lenses would allow normal, affordable cameras to view ultraviolet, infrared, radiation, and perhaps even certain types of lower-frequency "radio" waves (via an auxiliary scintillator energized by an extra power source)- a technology which opens to door to widely-available night/thermal imaging, radiation visualization, and more generally, an entirely new manner of "seeing" things, mimicking the spectral perception of birds, snakes, or even our own satellites.
The principle behind this, despite its intimidating name containing the naught but terrifying "quantum" word, is relatively easy to visualize: light waves, as their name might suggest, oscillate as they move through space- something best imagined for our purpose as a very, very bumpy road. Now, perhaps in the days of old, our childhood friend has decided to appropriate an old wheelbarrow and take us on a (somewhat terrifying) ride down the bumpy road, resulting in a very sore butt and an even greater number of bruises; years later, we revisit the spot in our fancy grown-up vehicle, complete with suspension and all the luxuries of adulthood. Despite our traumatic memories, the bumps are far less noticeable, and not nearly as fast as before. Just like the springs in our car's suspension, the Stokes Shift phenomena relies on an atomic "suspension", using the bonds to a similar end.
Thus, when a higher-energy (frequency, in this case) wave hits our lens, it acts just like the vehicle's suspension and lessens the energy thereof, resulting in a decrease in frequency- ie, bringing a signal in the range of ultraviolet or radiation down into the visual spectrum. Likewise, this process can work in reverse (imagine hitting those same bumps at 150mph, instead), taking an external energy source which it contributes to the signal, raising signals in the far infrared (thermal signatures) or near infrared to the visual spectrum.
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