Scientists have invented a lens that can focus like a human eye but allow for the wide-angle view of an insect; the result is super in-depth images.
The lens could revolutionize the smart-phone camera, allowing it to capture images with the quality of a more expensive device. It could also allow doctors to "see inside" the human body, an Ohio state University press release reported.
"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," Yi Zhao, associate professor of biomedical engineering and ophthalmology at Ohio State, said. "What we get is a wide-angle lens with depth of field."
The lens could have the appearance of human vision, but with a wider view. The lens is made from "transparent polymer filled with a gelatinous fluid similar to fluid inside the human eye," the press release reported. It is made up of "dome-shaped fluid pockets" that sit on top of a larger dome. The domes allow fluid to be pumped in and out of the device. The pumping fluid allows the lens to change shape, which controls its focus.
The lens changes shape in a similar way to how the muscle controls the eye. It could achieve the same result as what one would expect to see with "multiple moving lenses in a single stationary lens." The researchers also hope to make a confocal microscope "which use a system of moving glass lenses and a laser to scan three-dimensional images of tiny objects."
"We believe that it is possible to make a confocal microscope with no moving parts," Zhao said.
The researchers demonstrated the lens' ability to switch focus from one microscopic object to another, even when they were arranged at various distances.
"With our lens, doctors could get the wide-angle view they need, and still be able to judge the distance between the lens and tissue. They could place instruments with more confidence, and remove a tumor more easily, for example," Zhao said.
The problem with the lens is that it needs an external fluid reservoir to function, and the fluid must be pumped manually.
