scipaArtificial bug eyes make wide-angled lenses
May 3rd 2006 14:10
Wide-angled lenses are soon to be taken to a new dimension. Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, have created a series of artificial compound eyes modelled after the eyes of insects.
A flat array of tiny convex lenses is used to make the artificial compound eyes. The microlenses are arranged in a hexagonal honeycomb pattern, then used as a template for a thin coating of an elastic polymer, polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). Once hardened, the PDMS layer becomes a mould for the manufacture of bug-eye lenses. The lenses are made of an epoxy resin that hardens, forming self-written waveguides, upon exposure to focussed beams of ultraviolet light.
Principal investigator Luke P. Lee speculates that insect eyes could be created the same way too. "First, there are the lenses, and then as light keeps coming in, they make their own optical paths and connect with the visual system," he said.
The new bug-eye lenses will offer a much wider field of vision than conventional convex and fish-eye lenses allow. Being more space-efficient, the lenses will eventually be put to use in ultrathin cameras, surveillence, high-speed motion detecting and in medical procedures that require imaging.
(Image from flickr.com)
A flat array of tiny convex lenses is used to make the artificial compound eyes. The microlenses are arranged in a hexagonal honeycomb pattern, then used as a template for a thin coating of an elastic polymer, polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). Once hardened, the PDMS layer becomes a mould for the manufacture of bug-eye lenses. The lenses are made of an epoxy resin that hardens, forming self-written waveguides, upon exposure to focussed beams of ultraviolet light.
Principal investigator Luke P. Lee speculates that insect eyes could be created the same way too. "First, there are the lenses, and then as light keeps coming in, they make their own optical paths and connect with the visual system," he said.
(Image from flickr.com)
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