Thermogram is converted to electronic impulses.Detector elements rapidly obtain temperature data within the field of view.Scope focuses IR energy on target area/scene.The target area is invisibly "lit up" as internal scope components gather data to procure an electronic image for the viewer. The scope emits a focused light - IR energy undetectable by the human eye. Variations in types of glass used, additional ion coatings, and the use of a microchannel plate is dependent on the type of Generation technology your night vision device has. The manufacturing process is extremely complex and can easily require over 400 steps before you have a finished product. The electrons then pass through a phosphor screen where they're converted back into light to produce an image to the viewer. These tubes have to be uniform in spacing and density to produce sharp resolution in the resulting image. The microchannel plate contains millions of microscopic channels or glass tubes. The electrons pass through and multiply by the thousands through the microchannel plate. It travels down the tube first passing through the photo cathode that converts the photons to electrons. What happens is, light that comes through the objective lens at this stage are photons. The tube body in a night vision scope is what's known as the image intensifier tube and is a vacuum tube. Did that confuse you even more? Let us help out with that. It's then intensified to be converted back into light to be viewed as an image. For the cut-to-the-chase explanation, night vision scopes take minimal, available light and turns it into electricity. The process is extremely interesting, and we'll do our best to simplify it.