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06-03-2016, 08:00 AM   #1
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Flat lenses in the future?

Could potentially be a radical new optical technology...
QuoteQuote:
A flat lens made of paint whitener on a sliver of glass could revolutionise optics, according to its US inventors.
Just 2mm across and finer than a human hair, the tiny device can magnify nanoscale objects and gives a sharper focus than top-end microscope lenses.

Flat lens promises possible revolution in optics - BBC News

06-03-2016, 08:35 AM   #2
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Wow, that was a really interesting article. The possibilities seem enormous with a easily mass produced lens that essentially takes up no space and is sharper than the best optics available today.
06-03-2016, 08:45 AM   #3
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Neat article. That technology might actually make zoom lenses appealing to me.
06-03-2016, 09:00 AM   #4
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As I understand it (with my limited optical engineering knowledge) each layer is essentially equivalent to a single lens element. So presumably it would be possible to use them in the same ways. However, as the exact optical qualities can be created using the arrangement of nano coating, probably many elements could be combined as one.

It is still very early days though, so who knows what may be possible...

06-03-2016, 09:06 AM   #5
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QuoteOriginally posted by dcshooter Quote
It raises a lot of interesting questions vis a vis using it for camera lenses - can they even be stacked like a traditional lens in order to allow things like zooming,
"Or to get a different focus, engineers could change the size, spacing and orientation of the pillars. It simply means doing the computer calculations and dialling the results into the new design."

My guess is that current technology precludes zooming, as it creates a fixed layer on the quartz crystal. But if they can figure out
how to reconfigure the arrangement of the crystal layer after it's been deposited, it seems theoretically possible to have a zoom
range.
06-03-2016, 10:19 AM - 1 Like   #6
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Thank you for sharing this research publication
I don't want to kill the excitement around this technology, but it is monochromatic oriented : the thickness of the layer and the patterns are designed for a single wavelength. For microscopy applications, it is just fine as they often work with monochromatic lasers. However for a broad range of wavelengths (like visible) it would have a crazy amount of chromatism and would probably not be suitable.
06-03-2016, 05:35 PM   #7
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Would the advantage of the flat lens be offset by the size of the camera body which would need to contain sufficient computing power to interpret the data?

06-03-2016, 07:07 PM   #8
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They are working on the monochromatic issue..

but I can see this being more useful for microscopes and cellphones as well as hidden/spy cameras.
06-06-2016, 01:27 PM   #9
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Conceptually, assuming each sheet essentially works as one element (and assuming this could be adapted to regular photography), I think the laws of optics would still hold. I.e. multiple elements might still need to be the same space apart, and the overall size dictated by the sensor size and field of view.
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