An innovative new meta lens invention flags a clear way to a clearer future for beyond than just curing blurred vision- it could help revolutionizing mobile camera technology.
Few of the scientists from the Harvard John A Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have possibly revolutionized the lenses of almost all kinds ranging from corrective eye lenses and smartphone cameras. This was achieved by the creation of an artificial eye that can help people adjust to compensate for imperfections in ordinary eyesight.
The new lens works much like a normal human eye. This ultimate artificial eye is made with artificial muscles that are able to contract to change the way light is focussed in accordance with providing clearer and sharper image. With the use of this lens, it’s possible to counteract three main causes of blurred vision in humans that are astigmatism, image shift, and focus.
IT could be possible that you are not habitual of wearing glasses, so you possibly could not be interested in a clearer vision for those four-eyes who are always found complaining about their eyesight. But if so, this creation could sound like a great news for you as well- as this artificial eye could potentially be produced for the mobile smartphone cameras, offering a sharper image on capture, providing a clearer image, and an ultimately powerful optical zoom that can be added to phones without the need of a large and bulky additional lens.
This is just another beginning of the possible uses for the technology– these lenses could be used for making facial recognition software more accurate and the big plus is that you could also lock your phone with just a stare of few seconds on your smartphone’s screen. These can be used to miniaturize virtual reality headsets so that they are not quite too large and cumbersome.
According to the senior author- Federico Capasso, detailing this new discovery:
“This demonstrates the feasibility of embedded optical zoom and autofocus for a wide range of applications including cell phone cameras, eyeglasses and virtual and augmented reality hardware. It also shows the possibility of future optical microscopes, which operate fully electronically and can correct many aberrations simultaneously.”
All of these are fantastic news, but it also does seem as if scientists are missing a wondrous potential use for the technology.
This lens is capable of creating a flat, unobtrusive optical zoom, and can also help in correcting a human being’s vision so that they are no longer struggling to focus on their eyes.
Undoubtedly, the most logical use for this technological breakthrough is to creating a telescopic vision for humans, as it is shown off in The Six Million Dollar Man!
Sad but true, that there is one big problem with this new lens that will probably keep people from wanting to have it too close to their faces- it takes a huge amount of electricity in order to contract with the artificial muscles so that the artificial eye can focus.
This could result in one of the biggest challenging blocks to actually being able to produce a commercially viable version of the lens for smartphones users. Moreover, it goes without saying that the nearsighted people of the world aren’t in a hurry to strap zappy goggles to their faces in order to be able to see.
As of now, one would have to wait- that this technology will be made available to the world soon. As it never happens every day, when scientists invent the machine that can give people superpowers.