New Flat Meta-Lens Could Replace Contact Lenses

"Researchers from Harvard University have developed a new type of flat lens that could replace more cumbersome curved glass optics currently used in a wide range of imaging appliances," reports the Christain Science Monitor. "'This technology is potentially revolutionary because it works in the visible spectrum, which means it has the capacity to replace lenses in all kinds of devices, from microscopes to cameras, to displays and cell phones,' Harvard professor and researcher Federico Capasso said in a university release. Professor Capasso was also the senior author of a paper on the new technology, published in the journal Science. Capasso's planar lens is capable of processing images of objects smaller than even the best current microscopes, using a titanium dioxide-based array of nanostructures. That oxide is already used in applications ranging from skincare to white pigmentation for paints, foods, and more, and was chosen by the researchers due to its ubiquity and capacity to process light." Read more.