Scientists have created a focusless camera with a new flat lens

Using just one flat lens a fraction of a millimeter thick, the researchers created a camera that does not require focusing to create high-quality images.

Conventional camera lenses have several lenses,transforming parallel rays of light into spherical waves that converge into a focal spot. A team of scientists from the University of Utah found that waves of other shapes can produce a similar effect, greatly increasing the number of possible lens designs that can focus all the colors of the light.

For the manufacture of prototype researchers chose the best designlenses for depth of focus and applied nanoproduction methods. Instead of ordinary bulk glass or plastic, to create the desired effect, they created a nanostructure pattern on a flat surface that controls the movement of light.

Experiments have confirmed that the new lensIt worked as expected, and could maintain focus on objects that were about 6 meters apart, which is several orders of magnitude better than the performance of a similar standard lens. The team demonstrated that the new lens uses infrared light and a relatively low numerical aperture.

In the future, researchers plan to expandlens up to large numerical apertures and use it with a full spectrum of visible light to start mass production and commercialize the project. According to them, a new approach to design will allow the creation of various optical components with new properties.

Such lenses can reduce the weight, complexity and cost of cameras, as well as other image processing systems, while increasing their functionality.

Earlier, we also reported on the invention of a camera that is capable of shooting objects at a distance of 45 km.