How Rattlesnake Inspired Ultra-sensitive Infrared Sensors

Crotalus atrox · Animal · North American deserts and scrublands

What if the solution to this engineering challenge had already been perfected — by a rattlesnake over 100 million years of evolution?

The Natural Innovation

Detects infrared radiation (body heat) from prey using pit organs containing a thin membrane just 15 micrometres thick — resolving temperature differences of 0.003°C at distances up to one metre in total darkness

The rattlesnake lives in North American deserts and scrublands.

In the language of biomimicry, this falls under the Sense › Detect heat category.

The Design Principle

An air-backed membrane with minimal thermal mass maximises the temperature differential caused by incoming IR — creating a natural bolometer far more sensitive per unit area than most engineered equivalents

Human Applications

Ultra-sensitive infrared sensors for night vision, search-and-rescue heat detectors, thermal cameras for medical diagnostics and building energy audits

Real-world implementations include: DARPA pit-organ inspired uncooled IR sensors; University of California Berkeley graphene IR detector based on pit membrane geometry.

Source: AskNature.org