1.What it is. Graphene is a single-atom layer of graphite. It’s the same material found in that No. 2 pencil you chewed on in school, but constructed so thinly that it’s actually considered two-dimensional. Graphene absorbs a large part of the electromagnetic spectrum, ranging from infrared — the wavelength picked up by NVGs that allows you to see in the dark — to ultraviolet.

2. How it works. Scientists have known since the mid-2000s that graphene absorbs infrared light. But at one atom thick, it can absorb only 2.3 percent of the light that hits it — and that’s insufficient to generate an electric signal strong enough for hardware to convert into a viewable image. “It’s a hundred to a thousand times lower than what a commercial device would require,” Zhong said.

Norris, Zhong and other researchers sandwiched an insulating layer between two graphene layers and then added electric current. When infrared light hits the layered product, its electrical reaction is amplified strongly enough to be converted into an infrared image.

3. What it could be used for (civilian): Norris and Zhong see possibilities that include chips in smartphone cameras for handy night vision, “smart” automobile windshields that improve night driving, improved thermal imaging in search and rescue robots, and new devices that allow doctors to monitor blood flow.

4. What it could be used for (military): This lightweight, super-strong material could eventually make its way into night-vision glasses or contact lenses and other imaging devices such as thermal imaging cameras, aircraft gimbal turrets, missile launch detectors and more.