New Camera Is the Size of a Grain of Salt: Smart Dust Is Coming
Miniaturization is one of the most world-shaking trends of the last several decades. Computer chips now have features measured in billionths of a meter. Sensors that once weighed kilograms fit inside your smartphone. But it doesn't end there.
Researchers are aiming to take sensors smaller—much smaller.
In a new University of Stuttgart paper published in Nature Photonics, scientists describe tiny 3D printed lenses and show how they can take super sharp images. Each lens is 120 millionths of a meter in diameter—roughly the size of a grain of table salt—and because they're 3D printed in one piece, complexity is no barrier. Any lens configuration that can be designed on a computer can be printed and used.
This allows for a variety of designs to be tested to achieve the finest quality images.
According to the paper, the new method not only demonstrates high-quality micro-lenses can be 3D printed, but it also solves roadblocks to current manufacturing methods. These include limitations on how small you can go, failure to combine multiple elements, surface design restrictions, and alignment difficulties.
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