Sell everything! Your lenses are now all worthless!!

[Damphousse]

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Just 2mm across and far thinner than a human hair, the tiny device can magnify nanoscale objects and gives a sharper focus than top-end microscope lenses.

It is the latest example of the power of metamaterials, whose novel properties emerge from their structure.

Shapes on the surface of this lens are smaller than the wavelength of light involved: a thousandth of a millimetre.

"In my opinion, this technology will be game-changing," said Federico Capasso of Harvard University, the senior author of a report on the new lens which appears in the journal Science.

The lens is quite unlike the curved disks of glass familiar from cameras and binoculars. Instead, it is made of a thin layer of transparent quartz coated in millions of tiny pillars, each just tens of nanometres across and hundreds high.

Quote

The advantage, Prof Capasso said, is that these "metalenses" avoid shortfalls - called aberrations - that are inherent in traditional glass optics.

"The quality of our images is actually better than with a state-of-the-art objective lens. I think it is no exaggeration to say that this is potentially revolutionary."

Quote

"But our lenses, being planar, can be fabricated in the same foundries that make computer chips. So all of a sudden the factories that make integrated circuits can make our lenses."

And with ease. Electronics manufacturers making microprocessors and memory chips routinely craft components far smaller than the pillars in the flat lenses. Yet a memory chip containing billions of components may cost just a few pounds.

Quote

The prototypes lenses are 2mm across, but only because of the limitations of the Harvard manufacturing equipment. In principle, the method could scale to any size, Prof Capasso said.

"Once you have the foundry - you want a 12-inch lens? Feel free, you can make a 12-inch lens. There's no limit."

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-36438686

So, real or BS?

Can't wait to see the faces of all the Hollywood directors who sobbed, "B-b-but 4k is too sharp!"  They'll lose their minds if someone hands them one of these lenses.

So if this is for real will that end the lens fights on EOSHD?

[IshootbeforeItalk]

The advantage, Prof Capasso said, is that these "metalenses" avoid shortfalls - called aberrations - that are inherent in traditional glass optics.

"The quality of our images is actually better than with a state-of-the-art objective lens. I think it is no exaggeration to say that this is potentially revolutionary."

Sounds amazing.

 

[Damphousse]

24 minutes ago, IshootbeforeItalk said:

The advantage, Prof Capasso said, is that these "metalenses" avoid shortfalls - called aberrations - that are inherent in traditional glass optics.

"The quality of our images is actually better than with a state-of-the-art objective lens. I think it is no exaggeration to say that this is potentially revolutionary."

Sounds amazing.

 

Yeah.  Just can't tell if this is for real or just another overly optimistic puff piece.  The article says the lenses can be manufactured on chip fabs just like memory chips and that the technology scales up easily.  It makes it sound like it is pretty much ready for mass production.  I wonder when we will see this tech hit the market.  I wonder how much better cell phone pictures and videos will look with these lenses.  Allegedly they work well with big apertures as well.  Imagine a cell phone camera with a perfect F/0.95 lens.

[Hans Punk]

Well, after the US military buyout the technology (along with Vantablack) I guess we might see a trickle down to consumer based goods in around 30-40 years if we are lucky. For example, there are batteries that already exist in (and out of) labs that can power your portable electronics for months from a single 60 second charge, do we see them in our consumer electronics?

Nope.

 

[Nikkor]

I can see the endless discussions about spherical vs metalenses, blablabla. People on the forum are buying dogshit lenses for the filmic look, same will happen with the metastuff. Anyway, can't wait to see them in action.