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A meta-lens developed by researchers only one micron thick, has the ability to give better results than any compound lens currently available …
The first flat lens capable of properly focusing a wide range of colors of any polarization on the same focal point without the need for additional elements has been developed.
Researchers at the School of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Colombia have developed a one micron thick lens that offers the performance of the best composite lens systems.
Associate Professor Nanfang Yu led the study and said, "The beauty of our flat lens lies in the fact that by using meta-atoms of complex shapes, it not only provides the correct distribution of the delay for a single color of light, but also for a continuous spectrum of light.
"And because they are so thin, they can potentially dramatically reduce the size and weight of any optical instrument or device used for imaging, such as cameras, microscopes, telescopes, and even our glasses. Think of a pair of glasses of thinner thickness than a sheet of paper, to cameras for non-curved smartphones, to thin blocks of detection and imaging systems for driverless cars and drones and miniaturized tools for medical imaging applications. "
Meta-lenses used standard 2D manufacturing techniques similar to those used in the manufacture of computer chips. The researchers mentioned that mass production of these meta-lenses should be simple because it is only a layer of nanostructure and that it is not necessary to go through the process of grinding and polishing expensive and long.
"The production of our flat lenses can be massively parallelized, which allows us to obtain large quantities of high-performance and economical lenses," said Sajan Shrestha, a PhD student from the Yu Group who was co-author of the # 39; study. "So we can send our lens designs to semiconductor foundries for mass production and benefit from the industry-wide economies of scale."
"Our design algorithm exhausts all degrees of freedom in modeling an interface into a binary pattern, which allows our flat lenses to achieve near-theoretical performance as an interface." nanostructured can eventually reach, "said Adam Overvig. other main co-author of the study and also a PhD student with Yu, said.
"In fact, we have demonstrated some flat lenses with the best combined features theoretically possible: for a given meta-lens diameter, we have obtained the closest possible focal point over the widest range of wavelengths. "
The study was published by Nature's Light: science and applications.
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