Infrared visualized snakes-inspired artificial vision systems with CMOS sensors-integrated upconverters

Abstract

Biological visions have inspired the development of artificial vision systems with diverse visual functional traits, however, the detected wavelength is only in visible light between 0.4 and 0.78 μm, restricting their applications. Snakes generate a thermal image of animals due to pit organs for detecting and converting infrared, allowing them to accurately target predators or prey even under darkness. Inspired by natural infrared visualized snakes, we propose artificial vision systems with CMOS sensors-integrated upconverters to break visible light limitations to realize 3840 × 2160 ultra-high-resolution short-wave infrared (SWIR) and mid-wave infrared (MWIR) visualization imaging for the first time. Through colloidal quantum dot barrier heterojunction architecture design of infrared detecting units and the introduction of co-hosted emitting units, the luminance and upconversion efficiency reach up to 6388.09 cd m⁻² and 6.41% for SWIR, 1311.64 cd m⁻² and 4.06% for MWIR at room temperature. Our artificial vision systems broaden a wide spectrum of applications within infrared, such as night vision, agricultural science, and industry inspection, marking a significant advance in bioartificial vision.