Night vision imaging images are known for their eerie green sheen. At the end of the image intensifier tube, electrons strike a screen with a phosphorescent coating. These electrons maintain their relative positions as they pass through the microchannel, which ensures the integrity of the image, as the electrons are arranged in the same way as the initial photons. The energy carried by these electrons causes phosphorous to reach an excited state and release photons.

The night vision instrument uses a special lens that can focus the infrared rays emitted by objects in the field of vision. The phased array on the infrared detector element can scan for converging light. The detector element can generate a very detailed temperature pattern map, called a temperature spectrum map. In about 1/30 second, the detector array can obtain temperature information and produce a temperature spectrum. This information is obtained from thousands of detection points in the field of view of the detector array.