New Transition Lenses May Boost Combat Survival

12/07/2011 by Armed Forces International's Defence Correspondent

Rapid-response lens colour-changing technology could be a useful and potentially life-saving tool for military personnel tasked with urban combat duties, it's been reported.

Equipped with sunglasses and other visual products incorporating features of this kind, troops could become more adept at reacting to environmental shifts and, now, a research term has refined a technique that could see the technology entering US Army service.

Based at the University of Connecticut and headed by Professor Greg Sotzing, the team is now applying for a patent and information on its discovery appears in the 7 July edition of the Journal of Materials Chemistry.

New Transition Lenses

Transition lenses typically feature photochromic film, which darkens when exposed to UV light. Conversely, they return to normal state when no longer in the presence of direct UV radiation.

The University of Connecticut technology incorporates electrochromic lenses, instead. These new transition lenses again produce a reversible colour change, but do so in response to an electric charge, prompted by light.

The rate of colour change is directly related to the amount of electricity being supplied, making it occur pretty much in real time.

The US military has reportedly expressed interest in this product, thinking of situations in which troops experience fast-changing light conditions. Urban combat sorties are a key example, with personnel typically being outdoors in bright light, inside darkened buildings and then back out again, perhaps in a matter of seconds.

Combat Survival Lenses

According to Professor Sotzing, that capability could ultimately mean the difference between life and death. Therefore, this technology could literally allow combat survival lenses to be manufactured and pressed into service.

"Right now, soldiers have to physically change the lenses in their goggles", he explained, adding: "This will eliminate that need" and referring to the technology as "..the next big thing for transition lenses."

Further advantages presented by the electrochromic lens technology include waste reduction and reduced cost. These could give it applications beyond the defence industry, such as the world of fashion.