Researchers have created the first “metalens” that can focus the entire visible spectrum of light onto a single point in high resolution. The breakthrough brings metalenses one step closer towards replacing bulky camera lenses with much smaller chips.
The new technology could lead to high-resolution camera lenses that are thinner than a human hair.
Instead of using solid pieces of curved class to focus light, “meta-material lenses” are covered with an array of “titanium dioxide nanofins” that helps focus light on a point in exactly the same way.
The latest metalens is able to completely eliminate chromatic aberration, a common issue in modern camera lenses. This is when lenses fail to focus all colors on the same point, causing colored or rainbow edges to appear in areas of contrast in photos.