Non-focusing lens potential
Feb 14, 2024 20:30:14 #
Wyantry
Loc: SW Colorado
A new type of lens may afford “non-focusing” cameras. What that may mean for consumer cameras is unclear.
But if scalable, might be the end of lenses as we currently consider them.
There might be some really interesting possibilities: A “lens” no thicker than a normal filter? A digital camera not much thicker than . . . OH! A Cell phone ! With all the potentials for interchangeable THIN lenses.
“But what about the Bokeh ?” I hear the purists crying. Maybe that can be arranged as well. Perhaps even NEW and/or BETTER capabilities may be created?
”Researchers Create Focus-Free Camera With New Flat Lens
New technology poised to drastically reduce weight, complexity and cost of cameras while increasing functionality.
Using a single lens that is about one-thousandth of an inch thick, researchers have created a camera that does not require focusing.
The technology offers considerable benefits over traditional cameras such as the ones in most smartphones, which require multiple lenses to form high-quality, in-focus images.
‘Our flat lenses can drastically reduce the weight, complexity and cost of cameras and other imaging systems, while increasing their functionality’, said research team leader Rajesh Menon from the University of Utah. ‘Such optics could enable thinner smartphone cameras, improved and smaller cameras for biomedical imaging such as endoscopy, and more compact cameras for automobiles.’
In Optica, The Optical Society's (OSA) journal for high impact research, Menon and colleagues describe their new flat lens and show that it can maintain focus for objects that are about 6 meters apart from each other. Flat lenses use nanostructures patterned on a flat surface rather than bulky glass or plastic to achieve the important optical properties that control the way light travels.
The researchers say the design approach they used could be expanded to create optical components with any number of properties such as extreme bandwidth, easier manufacturability or lower cost.
Questioning the textbook
Conventional cameras, whether used in smartphones or for microscopy, require focusing to ensure that the details of an object are sharp. If there are multiple objects at different distances from the camera, each object must be focused separately.
‘The new lens eliminates the need for focusing and allows any camera to keep all the objects in focus simultaneously’, said Menon. ‘Conventional cameras also use multiple lenses to keep different colors of light in focus simultaneously. Since our design is very general, we can also use it to create a single flat lens that focuses all colors of light, drastically simplifying cameras even further.’
To focus light, traditional lenses transform parallel light waves into spherical waves that converge into a focal spot. In an important breakthrough, the researchers realized that waves with other shapes could produce a similar effect, vastly increasing the number of possible lens designs.
‘In stark contrast to what is taught in optics textbooks, our research has shown that there is more than one way that light transmission is affected by an ideal lens – a concept known as pupil function’, said Menon. ‘This opened essentially infinite possibilities for the lens pupil function, and we searched through these possibilities for one that achieved an extreme depth of focus.’
Experimental confirmation
After choosing the best lens design for depth of focus, the researchers used nanofabrication techniques to make a prototype lens. Experiments confirmed that the new lens performed as expected and achieved a depth of focus several orders of magnitude larger than that of an equivalent conventional lens.”
https://www.photonicsonline.com/doc/researchers-create-focus-free-camera-with-new-flat-lens-0001
But if scalable, might be the end of lenses as we currently consider them.
There might be some really interesting possibilities: A “lens” no thicker than a normal filter? A digital camera not much thicker than . . . OH! A Cell phone ! With all the potentials for interchangeable THIN lenses.
“But what about the Bokeh ?” I hear the purists crying. Maybe that can be arranged as well. Perhaps even NEW and/or BETTER capabilities may be created?
”Researchers Create Focus-Free Camera With New Flat Lens
New technology poised to drastically reduce weight, complexity and cost of cameras while increasing functionality.
Using a single lens that is about one-thousandth of an inch thick, researchers have created a camera that does not require focusing.
The technology offers considerable benefits over traditional cameras such as the ones in most smartphones, which require multiple lenses to form high-quality, in-focus images.
‘Our flat lenses can drastically reduce the weight, complexity and cost of cameras and other imaging systems, while increasing their functionality’, said research team leader Rajesh Menon from the University of Utah. ‘Such optics could enable thinner smartphone cameras, improved and smaller cameras for biomedical imaging such as endoscopy, and more compact cameras for automobiles.’
In Optica, The Optical Society's (OSA) journal for high impact research, Menon and colleagues describe their new flat lens and show that it can maintain focus for objects that are about 6 meters apart from each other. Flat lenses use nanostructures patterned on a flat surface rather than bulky glass or plastic to achieve the important optical properties that control the way light travels.
The researchers say the design approach they used could be expanded to create optical components with any number of properties such as extreme bandwidth, easier manufacturability or lower cost.
Questioning the textbook
Conventional cameras, whether used in smartphones or for microscopy, require focusing to ensure that the details of an object are sharp. If there are multiple objects at different distances from the camera, each object must be focused separately.
‘The new lens eliminates the need for focusing and allows any camera to keep all the objects in focus simultaneously’, said Menon. ‘Conventional cameras also use multiple lenses to keep different colors of light in focus simultaneously. Since our design is very general, we can also use it to create a single flat lens that focuses all colors of light, drastically simplifying cameras even further.’
To focus light, traditional lenses transform parallel light waves into spherical waves that converge into a focal spot. In an important breakthrough, the researchers realized that waves with other shapes could produce a similar effect, vastly increasing the number of possible lens designs.
‘In stark contrast to what is taught in optics textbooks, our research has shown that there is more than one way that light transmission is affected by an ideal lens – a concept known as pupil function’, said Menon. ‘This opened essentially infinite possibilities for the lens pupil function, and we searched through these possibilities for one that achieved an extreme depth of focus.’
Experimental confirmation
After choosing the best lens design for depth of focus, the researchers used nanofabrication techniques to make a prototype lens. Experiments confirmed that the new lens performed as expected and achieved a depth of focus several orders of magnitude larger than that of an equivalent conventional lens.”
https://www.photonicsonline.com/doc/researchers-create-focus-free-camera-with-new-flat-lens-0001
Feb 14, 2024 20:55:00 #
Feb 15, 2024 06:18:14 #
User ID wrote:
How well I remember the 200 MPG carburetor.
Right?
And Depth of Focus is not Depth of Field - the latter (as most on this forum know) has to do with the band of acceptable sharpness in front of the lens; the former is the depth of sharpness behind the lens at the focus plane (where the film or digital imaging chip lays).
But perhaps with the upcoming cold fusion power plants we will see the light.
Feb 15, 2024 12:06:29 #
Feb 15, 2024 13:02:05 #
f8lee wrote:
Right?
And Depth of Focus is not Depth of Field - the latter (as most on this forum know) has to do with the band of acceptable sharpness in front of the lens; the former is the depth of sharpness behind the lens at the focus plane (where the film or digital imaging chip lays).
But perhaps with the upcoming cold fusion power plants we will see the light.
And Depth of Focus is not Depth of Field - the latter (as most on this forum know) has to do with the band of acceptable sharpness in front of the lens; the former is the depth of sharpness behind the lens at the focus plane (where the film or digital imaging chip lays).
But perhaps with the upcoming cold fusion power plants we will see the light.
The wide overall abuse of tech terms in the "report" kinda shreds any possibility of cred.
Feb 15, 2024 13:53:22 #
User ID wrote:
How well I remember the 200 MPG carburetor.
What?? You don't believe in magic??
Feb 15, 2024 14:20:23 #
"it can maintain focus for objects that are about 6 meters apart from each other"
"This new lens could have many interesting applications outside photography such as creating highly efficient illumination for LIDAR that is critical for many autonomous systems, including self-driving cars"
"The researchers demonstrated the new lens using infrared light and relatively low numerical aperture"
The article is really unclear. Probably by design since a flat lens would probably be the subject of a patent application.
So it 'maintains focus' for objects about 6 meters apart from each other? How far from the lens?
Many interesting applications outside photography? LIDAR doesn't always deal with images.
Demonstrated with IR and 'low numerical aperture'? rather non-specific. What is 'low'? f/2? f/16?
Sounds like a great concept, but the biggest omission is the lack of an image showing what the 'lens' can do. And most of us are interested in visible wavelengths.
The only time the word "image" is used in the article is describing "traditional cameras such as the ones in most smartphones".
"This new lens could have many interesting applications outside photography such as creating highly efficient illumination for LIDAR that is critical for many autonomous systems, including self-driving cars"
"The researchers demonstrated the new lens using infrared light and relatively low numerical aperture"
The article is really unclear. Probably by design since a flat lens would probably be the subject of a patent application.
So it 'maintains focus' for objects about 6 meters apart from each other? How far from the lens?
Many interesting applications outside photography? LIDAR doesn't always deal with images.
Demonstrated with IR and 'low numerical aperture'? rather non-specific. What is 'low'? f/2? f/16?
Sounds like a great concept, but the biggest omission is the lack of an image showing what the 'lens' can do. And most of us are interested in visible wavelengths.
The only time the word "image" is used in the article is describing "traditional cameras such as the ones in most smartphones".
Feb 15, 2024 15:28:54 #
If you notice, their claims are mostly "Thinner, Lighter, Cheaper"
Their certainly may be something to those claims, and they may find applications, especially where computing power is part of the imaging system.
Our current camera sensors and lenses use some of those techniques.
Remember the LYTRO camera just a few years ago that claimed to be able to adjust focus AFTER the image was taken?
They could actually do a bit of it, but it just was not 'ready for prime time'.
I applaud the effort and the research, wish them well, but my money stays in my pocket until there is a product that is More useful than what I use now
Their certainly may be something to those claims, and they may find applications, especially where computing power is part of the imaging system.
Our current camera sensors and lenses use some of those techniques.
Remember the LYTRO camera just a few years ago that claimed to be able to adjust focus AFTER the image was taken?
They could actually do a bit of it, but it just was not 'ready for prime time'.
I applaud the effort and the research, wish them well, but my money stays in my pocket until there is a product that is More useful than what I use now
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