Imagine digital cameras or smartphones without the bulky lenses or eyeglasses with lenses that are paper thin.
Researchers have always thought that flat, ultrathin optical lenses for cameras or other devices were impossible because of the way all the colors of light must bend through them. Consequently, photographers have had to put up with more cumbersome and heavier curved lenses. But University of Utah electrical and computer engineering professor Rajesh Menon and his team have developed a new method of creating optics that are flat and thin yet can still perform the function of bending light to a single point, the basic step in producing an image.
His findings were published Friday, Feb. 12, in a new paper, “Chromatic-Aberration-Corrected Diffractive Lenses for Ultra-Broadband Focusing,” in the current issue of Scientific Reports. The study was co-authored by University of Utah doctoral students Peng Wang and Nabil Mohammad.
“Instead of the lens having a curvature, it can be very flat so you get completely new design opportunities for imaging systems like the ones in your mobile phone,” Menon says. “Our results correct a widespread misconception that flat, diffractive lenses cannot be corrected for all colors simultaneously.”
Read the full press release in the U News Center.