How Do Night Vision Goggles Work?
A. Night Vision Goggles contain an image intensifier tube, which is the “heart” of the night vision product. The photocathode senses even the smallest amount of light in the night sky (from the moon and stars) that the human eye may not detect and converts the light energy (photons) into electrical energy (electrons). The electrons exit the cathode, then enter and pass through the microchannel plate (MCP), a thin disk about the size of a quarter, which contains over 10 million channels. As the electrons move through the channels, they hit and “bounce off” the channel walls. Each time an electron strikes a channel wall, more electrons are released. By the time the electrons exit the MCP, they have been multiplied thousands of times. The multiplied electrons then strike a phosphor screen, which is similar to a miniature television screen. When struck with electrons, the phosphor screen releases photons (light energy that “glows green”) in the same image pattern by which the photons origi
