Night vision systems with 910nm illumination?

Question for any experts on night vision scopes. Most Gen 1,2,3 NV scopes use some IR diode flash light or a 808nm laser for long distance illumination. 808nm is slightly visible. Does anyone know if a longer wavelength like 910nm would work? Would the NV photo tubes register at that wavelength?

Thanks!

Yes and no. My military experiance 808 will just apear as a red light at the diode but unfocused to produce a flood light type beam instead of laser type beem it wont be visible. My hand held monocle uses an 808nm IR LED. Not LD. You can get more power with a laser diode. If you go to far outside of the near IR the NVD will just pick it up as dim light. The farther you get away from that the dimmer the same power LD will be.

Hope that helps some haha

Speedy78

From what I've read, the most popular wavelength is around 840nm, and the NV scope response covers about 600-900nm. That 910nm will probably be less effective than an 808nm or so LED/laser. The 808nm laser would be your best bet, as they're pretty common IR diodes and come in high powers. As always, watch out for your eyes.

Visible to you maybe - you're looking right into it. How about from the target's perspective at "long-range"?

i have a couple gen 1 NV units (~800nm dull red glow) and a gen 1 Digital NV that uses a 940nm illumination and cant see anything glowing out of this unit.

What Ive come to realize is the units that use ~800nm cant see 940nm but, the units that use 940nm can see ~800nm. It will depend on the intensifier tubes too i guess.

Illumunation and Designation are two seperate tasks.

Designation is using a laser to aim a weapon or point accurately at something in a way that can only be seen with night vision. 5mw of 904nm works well, it is far enough from gen 3's peak sensitivity that it doesn't bloom and overwhelm the optic. commercially available civilian legal fda approved lasers are in the 820to 850nm range and are sub 0.7 mw, these work well too. being in the peak sensitivity range they require much less power. higher powered military lasers exist 5-250mw but these have other purposes than aiming a rifle and are too powerful.

illumination is providing more ir light when there isn't enough ambient ir light to provide a quality image. examples would be a basement, deep in the woods, or an extremely cloudy night. this is usually done with ir leds or visable lights behind a filter. some are low powered to provide just enough light to see up close, map reading and finding your footing. others are higher powered for providing illumination at longer ranges, and some can be focused for flood or spot. 200mw ir leds are considered high power for night vision, providing more illumination than a searchlight. one manufacturer claims 800 yards from 100mw. that light reflecting off something at close range could cause damage to your optics.

night vision is extremely expensive, and extremely sensitive. they don't require high powered light at all. a 15w red tailight looks like hid highbeams shining across my yard. its easy to cause terminal damage to a optic.

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