These days army night vision goggles (NVG’s) are used by law enforcement agencies and for search and rescue and not just used by the military. People are also using them for recreational activities such as camping, hiking and fishing.
The NVG’s people purchase for their own personal use however does not have the specifications that the army night vision goggles have.
NVG’s are a daily part of military activities because they allow the person wearing them to see images in the pitch dark, where if they were not wearing them they would not be able to see. Army night vision goggles have a special feature that allows the person wearing them to maintain a depth of perception when viewing the images.
In World War II army night vision goggles were first used. But it was not until the Vietnam War that they were used more. The technology in the army NVG’s has developed greatly since then. There are many different generations of these and can now be purchased by the ordinary person, they just will now be as sophisticated as the army night vision goggles of course.
With each new generation the technology and capability increases and therefore so does the price. The higher level generation means the more current they are.
Right now, army NVG’s used in the military is either helmet mounted or they can be hand held. The most common ones used in the military are called passive ones.
Army NVG’s will grab minute sources of light right away and then uses that light to amplify the image using its image intensifier tube to do this.
Army night vision goggles take the photons from the light and then produces electrons from them. These electrons are what is amplified producing more electrons. By producing multiple electrons it then lights up the lens producing the image.
Often we see images on the news of war activities that are green colour. These images were produced by using these army night vision goggles. The human eye can much easier distinguish different shades of green much easier then any other color and this is why these devices use the green color. As well by using green, the eye is able to readjust back to normal light after the NVGs are off. With other colors it takes longer for the eye to readjust.