The advancement of camera technology, especially in the digital era, has certainly grown by leaps and bounds, and this is why we have devices like the iPhone 6, despite being relatively small compared to a regular camera, is still able to capture some really great looking shots. This time around, engineers over at the University of Utah have come up with a new method of optics creation which will be flat as well as ultra-thin, and yet despite that, they are still able to bend light to a single point – just like traditional lenses. Will this breakthrough see cameras down the road implement the use of paper-thin lenses in the coming half decade? Only time will be able to tell.
This is certainly groundbreaking research that challenges the traditional viewpoint that flat, diffractive lenses are unable to correct all colors simultaneously. After all, typical diffractive lenses bend different wavelengths differently, which results in large chromatic aberrations. The super-achromatic lens developed is 10 times thinner compared to the width of a human hair, where it relies on a microstructure-geometry in order to usher in different wavelengths to the same focus.
The lenses were fabricated using optical lithography, making them easy to manufacture with a low cost entry point thanks to similar technologies used to manufacture CDs or DVDs. Of course, there is much more work that needs to be done before it becomes mainstream, so it looks like the industry will have to make do with Sony’s dual lens camera setup in the mean time.
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