New ultra thin diffractive lenses

[The Lightning Stalker]

Perfect colors, captured with one ultra-thin lens -- ScienceDaily

The Harvard School of Engineering and
Applied Sciences has made a breakthrough in
the science of ultrathin lenses. While it
may be a while before we will be using this
type of lens to focus lasers, this will see
widespread use in the tiny cameras in
devices such as cell phones and webcams.

 

[Robert S]

That sounds awesome, although i dont have any idea of optics, but i guess there will be a lot of advantages with this kind of lense.

Needs less space, and is probabably a lot more efficient than the lenses we are using today, and could be used as a single lens beam expander maybe?

At a mere 60 nanometers thick, the flat lens is essentially two-dimensional, yet its focusing power approaches the ultimate physical limit set by the laws of diffraction.

Operating at telecom wavelengths (i.e., the range commonly used in fiber-optic communications), the new device is completely scalable, from near-infrared to terahertz wavelengths, and simple to manufacture.

Sounds good, really good.

 

[micheal rosen]

if it can be designed to diffract different wavelengths at the same angles, couldn't it be used to combine white light into a single beam? or any other color combination for that matter?

 

[diachi]

That sounds awesome, although i dont have any idea of optics, but i guess there will be a lot of advantages with this kind of lense.

Needs less space, and is probabably a lot more efficient than the lenses we are using today, and could be used as a single lens beam expander maybe?



Sounds good, really good.

I don't imagine it could be used to make a single lens beam expander, but depending on what focal lengths can be achieved it could be possible to make a very thin beam expander while also reducing or completely removing abberations, seeing as it is a flat surface. I don't know enough about the new lens to be certain about that, maybe someone else who knows more about this will chime in.

if it can be designed to diffract different wavelengths at the same angles, couldn't it be used to combine white light into a single beam? or any other color combination for that matter?

I also don't imagine it could be used to combine beams, unless it is somehow capable of focusing beams of different angles of incidence to the same spot, thus combining them.

Cool invention nonetheless - certainly very useful for cameras and other devices were very thin lenses are required.