Micro lensless cameras can be hidden in clothes and glasses

The device is a square measuring just 0.04 inches by 0.05 inches (1 by 1.2 millimeters), and it makes it possible to instantly switch its "aperture" between wide-angle, fisheye, and zoom. And because the device is so thin, only a few microns thick, it can be embedded anywhere. (For comparison, the average width of a human hair is about 100 microns.)

"The entire back of the phone could be a camera," said Caltech professor of electrical engineering and medical engineering and author of the study Ali Hajimiri, the paper's lead researcher, said camera when describing the new discovery. Hajimili told Live Science:

It can be embedded in watches, glasses or fabric. "It could even be designed to be launched into space as a small package and then unfold into a very large sheet, depicting the universe at unprecedented resolution," Hajmiiri said. "You can do millions of pixels if you want." "(A megapixel image has 1 billion pixels, which is 1,000 times as large as a 1-megapixel digital camera image.)

Hajmiiri and colleagues presented at the Optical Society's (OSA) Lasers and Electro-Optics Conference Presented their innovation, called an optical phased array, in March. The research was also published in the online edition of OSA Technical Digest.

The proof-of-concept device was developed by The panel of 64 light receivers can be thought of as a miniature antenna that can receive light waves. Each receiver in the array is individually controlled by a computer program.

Lensless camera. So thin that it can be embedded anywhere (Caltech/Hajimiri Lab)

In seconds, the light receiver can be positioned to the far right, left or right of the view. Create an image of an object anywhere in between, and this can be done without pointing the device at the object, which is necessary for cameras.

"The beauty of this is that we. The image is created without any mechanical movement," he said.

Hajmili calls this feature "synthetic aperture." To test how well it works, the researchers placed this thin array on silicon Computer chip. In the experiment, the synthetic aperture collects the light waves, which are then converted into electrical signals by other components on the chip and sent to the sensor. The resulting image looks like a band. Illuminating a square chessboard, but this basic low-resolution image is just the first step. The device's ability to manipulate incoming light waves is so precise and fast, he said, that it could theoretically capture images including Hundreds of different types of images in any light, including infrared

"You can make a very powerful big camera," Hajmili said.

To use traditional For cameras to obtain high-power images, the lenses must be large so they can collect enough light. This is why professional photographers during sporting events use huge camera lenses.

But larger lenses require more glass, which introduces light and color imperfections into the image. The researchers' optical phased array doesn't have this problem, nor does it have any extra bulk, Hajmiiri said.

In the next phase of research, Hajmiiri and his colleagues are working to make the device larger, with more light receivers in the array.

Essentially, there's no limit to how much resolution you can increase," he said. "It's just a question of how big a phased array antenna you can make.

Original article about life sciences.