If you're scared of the dark, you may no longer have reason to fear.

Researchers out of the University of Michigan have developed an infrared sensor that could eventually be used in the production of night vision contact lenses.

Infrared imaging typically involves multiple technologies to view all ranges of the infrared spectrum, in addition to bulky cooling equipment. It is most often used by doctors to monitor blood pressure, identifying chemicals or simply seeing in the dark. Thanks to graphene, a tightly-packed layer of carbon atoms, scientists were able to create a more accessible sensor that only needs to be at room temperature to work properly.

"We can make the entire design super thin," Zhaohui Zhong, an assistant professor at the university, said in a statement. "It can be stacked on a contact lens or integrated with a cell phone."

Scientists detected light by watching how electrical charges in the graphene impacted a nearby current. They placed an insulating barrier between two graphene sheets and watched as electrons, set free when light touched the top layer, made their way to the bottom one. When the researchers measured a change in current from the top to the bottom layer, they were able to determine the brightness of the light that reached the graphene.

"Our work pioneered a new way to detect light," Zhong said. "We envision that people will be able to adopt this same mechanism in other material and device platforms."

This new sensor, which is smaller than a pinky nail, could have many benefits in the scientific and military communities (in addition to its more consumer-based possibilities). Google announced its development of a smart contact lens that could monitor glucose in January, and in February 2013, Nokia was granted $1.35 billion from the European Union to develop graphene as the strongest material in the world.

The research done on the infrared sensor was published in the academic journal Nature Nanotechnology.

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