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Autor: Fecha: 05 de octubre del 2013
Ingineers at Ohio State University have imitated aspects of human and insect eyes to create what may turn out to be the next big advance in camera lens technology. The results could be smartphones that rival the photo quality of digital cameras, and surgical imaging that enables doctors to see inside the human body like never before.
Human eyes can easily shift focus between several objects in a given scene, even if those objects are located at different distances. Attempting a similar ability with a camera may require the photographer to change lenses. “Our eye can change focus. An insect eye is made of many small optical components that can’t change focus but give a wide view. We can combine the two” said Yi Zhao, associate professor of biomedical engineering and ophthalmology at Ohio State. “What we get is a wide-angle lens with depth of field.”
In particular, Zhao is interested in using the lens in confocal microscopes, which use a system of moving glass lenses and a laser to scan three-dimensional images of tiny objects. He sees significant advantages for the lens design in fields such as microscopes and laparoscopic surgery, but one of the biggest markets could be mobile phones, where a flexible lens could finally allow real zoom and adaptable depth-of-field.
“We believe that it is possible to make a confocal microscope with no moving parts,” he said.
With laparoscopy, doctors insert tiny wide-angle cameras into the patient’s body in order to see as much tissue as they can without cutting the patient open. But such lenses don’t offer a sense of depth: they show all objects—both near and far—in focus at all times. This poses a problem for doctors; if they mistake a close object for a far away one, they could accidentally graze healthy tissue with the scope or surgical instruments.
By pumping fluid in and out of the pockets, the engineers were able to alter the lens’ shape and focus. The point where the image is focused can also be moved off-center. In a lens made of glass or plastic the only way to change where the image is centered is to point the lens in a different direction. At 5 millimeters across, however, the lens is a little bigger than a typical smartphone lens, so Zhao and Wei plan to shrink the design.
Human eyes can easily shift focus between several objects in a given scene, even if those objects are located at different distances. Attempting a similar ability with a camera may require the photographer to change lenses. “Our eye can change focus. An insect eye is made of many small optical components that can’t change focus but give a wide view. We can combine the two” said Yi Zhao, associate professor of biomedical engineering and ophthalmology at Ohio State. “What we get is a wide-angle lens with depth of field.”
In particular, Zhao is interested in using the lens in confocal microscopes, which use a system of moving glass lenses and a laser to scan three-dimensional images of tiny objects. He sees significant advantages for the lens design in fields such as microscopes and laparoscopic surgery, but one of the biggest markets could be mobile phones, where a flexible lens could finally allow real zoom and adaptable depth-of-field.
“We believe that it is possible to make a confocal microscope with no moving parts,” he said.
With laparoscopy, doctors insert tiny wide-angle cameras into the patient’s body in order to see as much tissue as they can without cutting the patient open. But such lenses don’t offer a sense of depth: they show all objects—both near and far—in focus at all times. This poses a problem for doctors; if they mistake a close object for a far away one, they could accidentally graze healthy tissue with the scope or surgical instruments.
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By pumping fluid in and out of the pockets, the engineers were able to alter the lens’ shape and focus. The point where the image is focused can also be moved off-center. In a lens made of glass or plastic the only way to change where the image is centered is to point the lens in a different direction. At 5 millimeters across, however, the lens is a little bigger than a typical smartphone lens, so Zhao and Wei plan to shrink the design.
Image credits: Photographs by Jo McCulty/Ohio State University.
