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Flat lenses made of nanostructures transform tiny cameras and projectors

spectrum.ieee.org

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Re: Flat lenses made of nanostructures transform tiny cameras and projectors

#2
This article describes how nano metalenses work and what they can be used for.

Spoiler alert: they can't be used to replace your smartphone's camera lenses yet, but can be used for IR distance sensors used on drones and soon, polarization sensors that will be able to tell materials apart and even detect cracks in concrete.

Re: Flat lenses made of nanostructures transform tiny cameras and projectors

#4
post #2

This article describes how nano metalenses work and what they can be used for. Spoiler alert: they can't be used to replace your smartphone's camera lenses yet, but can be used for IR distance sensors used on drones and soon, polarization sensors that will be able to tell materials apart and even detect cracks in concrete.

> polarization sensors that will be able to tell materials apart

Video of Gavin Smith explaining polarization with a neat mechanical/visual demonstration: https://youtu.be/9SAzxlF57mc?feature=shared&t=128

Not sure if he ever made the camera.

Re: Flat lenses made of nanostructures transform tiny cameras and projectors

#6
post #2

This article describes how nano metalenses work and what they can be used for. Spoiler alert: they can't be used to replace your smartphone's camera lenses yet, but can be used for IR distance sensors used on drones and soon, polarization sensors that will be able to tell materials apart and even detect cracks in concrete.

I wonder if this has applications for sensing in self-driving cars.

Re: Flat lenses made of nanostructures transform tiny cameras and projectors

#7
Therre's a diagram in TFA, comparing the construction of a conventional lens with a metalens.

The diagram shows two labelled parts that I didn't understand:

a) Glass plate with bandpass filter

b) Near-infrared contact image sensor

The legend doesn't say, but I suspect the diagrams show a distance sensor, not a camera. So I assume the infrared lasers have been omitted from the diagram. Also, I'd quite like to know a bit more about the optical bandpass filter. I suppose any "transparent" material is effectively a bandpass filter; this one presumably passes near-infrared, so is it like the dark-red plastic filter on a TV remote?

Why's the sensor called a "contact" image sensor?

Re: Flat lenses made of nanostructures transform tiny cameras and projectors

#9
post #6
post #2

This article describes how nano metalenses work and what they can be used for. Spoiler alert: they can't be used to replace your smartphone's camera lenses yet, but can be used for IR distance sensors used on drones and soon, polarization sensors that will be able to tell materials apart and even detect cracks in concrete.

I wonder if this has applications for sensing in self-driving cars.

AI-equipped cars with a real sense of feeling in their tires. It’ll be like the sensation of touch for them. Everything they run over, they will feel. Make them learn that animals feel gross to touch. Make them feel remorse for running over a human. Boom! Self-driving safety solved!

Re: Flat lenses made of nanostructures transform tiny cameras and projectors

#10
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder if this has applications for sensing in self-driving cars.

AI-equipped cars with a real sense of feeling in their tires. It’ll be like the sensation of touch for them. Everything they run over, they will feel. Make them learn that animals feel gross to touch. Make them feel remorse for running over a human. Boom! Self-driving safety solved!

This opens the door to kinky AI
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