Have you ever wondered if looking around in the dark and nighttime is possible or not? Yes! Absolutely Yes. Looking around in the dark has been possible for the last many years. It is made possible by the use of night vision scopes and goggles. These night vision scopes use a technology that makes them able to see in the dark or specifically in the nighttime. They have become an important gadget explicitly for hunters, armed forces, and security agencies.

But we do know that trusting without adequate description and details on how night vision scope works is quite difficult. We have explored and written in the summarised form the functioning of the night vision scopes and how they work to make us able to see in the night. Moreover, the night vision scopes work in different ways depending on the technology they use. We are describing both of the technologies to make you learn the basics of both.
How Does Night Vision Scope Work?
Table of Contents
Night vision scopes operate on two basic technologies. We’re describing both of them in further detail for your understanding. Stay in connection with us to learn the functioning of night vision scopes.
Types Of Technologies Used In Night Vision Scopes/ Goggles
Not every night vision scope uses the same technology and pattern of working. There are different scopes working differently from each other. The two different types of technologies are used in these goggles and scopes to make you see the world around in the dark. Explanations on both are mentioned in the further details.
- Image Enhancement
- Thermal Imaging
Image Enhancement
Image enhancement technology is the basic technology that is used in night vision scopes and goggles. As the name suggests, the image is collected and enhanced to make it visible to you. The scopes and goggles with image enhancement Technology use a special kind of tube in them, which is known as an image intensifier tube.

This is responsible for collecting the visible and infrared lights available in the dark then making them larger, wider, and broadened to make the surrounding animals, people, and items visible for you. This image enhancement technology uses the existing light and images to make the view of the surroundings possible in the dark
Steps of Image Enhancement Working In Night Vision Scopes
- In those night vision scopes that contain the image enhancement technology, there is a conventional lens which is also known as the objective lens present in them.
- This objective lens captures the visible light or the infrared light available in the surroundings and sends it to the image intensifier tube located inside the scope.

- This image intensifier tube receives its energy from the batteries in it. It also contains photocathodes in it which are responsible for the conversion of light energy photons into electrons.
- When these electrons from the existing light pass from the tubes, similar electrons are released from the atoms already present in the tube.
- This increases the number of available electrons of the same nature. All of these electrons are multiplied in thousands of numbers by using a Microchannel Plate.
- This is done by the cascaded secondary emission process which works inside these channels. This increases the number of electrons. When this large number of electrons collide with each other, they transfer their energy into each other, resulting in chain reactions of electrons with each other.
- At the end of this procedure, there is a screen presence that is properly coated with phosphorus. The channel through which these electrons pass is organized in a similar manner and transfers the electrons to the screen in the same way as the original photons were.
- This phosphorus is now ready to make the green image that we see from our night vision scopes and goggles.
- This image is now produced and is only visible with the help of an ocular lens. Moreover, you can view this image either directly with the help of a lens or can transform it into the screen of the monitor.
Thermal Imaging

There are many objects, humans, and animals like hogs and coyotes present in the dark environment around you. Many of the lights are emitted from them but you are unable to see them because most of them are infrared light which is not easily visible to the naked eye. There is a specific procedure used by the night vision scopes in thermal imaging to create a visible image. This makes the surroundings viewable in the nighttime or the dark time.
Steps on Working Of The Thermal Imaging In Night Vision Scopes
- There is a special lens located in the night vision scopes that work on the Thermal imaging process. This lens is responsible for focusing mainly on the infrared light present around you.
- There are infrared detector elements that are responsible for scanning the focused infrared light by a phased array.
- These infrared detector elements will make the thermogram which is a detailed pattern of the scan which was previously made with focussed light.
- This thermogram in this step is then converted into electrical impulses, which are forwarded to the signal processing unit.
- The signal processing unit is the motherboard which contains a chip responsible to convert the details received from the elements into display data.
- After this conversion of the thermogram into electrical impulses, they are sent to the display as information. This information in the display section is then displayed in different colors.
- These colors depend upon the wavelength of infrared light, which was focused in the first step. This strong combination of every element and impulse combines to create an image you can see with your eyes in the dark.
FAQs
Final Thoughts
Night vision scopes are of utmost importance to view the surrounding environment in the dark or nighttime. You are arcane in the dark just because of the presence of the two different technologies, image enhancement and thermal imaging. They both are different from each other but result in the same by making us able to see in the dark. Both of these are explained in the details mentioned above. If you want to learn about how the night vision scope works? Make sure to give this article a proper read and concentration.