Flat Lens By Harvard Provides Perfect Images By Removing Optical Aberrations

A team of researchers that includes - Federico Capasso, Robert L. Wallace and Vinton Hayes from Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences has introduced an ultra-thin lens capable of forming an image free from optical aberrations. Unlike the common lenses which focus light after a phase delay that is caused due to the thickness, this new lens is based on an instantaneous phase shift caused at the surface of the lens and hence does not require a thick built. The phase shift at the surface is made possible by the unique design of lens which includes silicon wafer covered by a nanometer thick layer of gold. The gold layer is arranged in V-shaped evenly spaced rows, which act as nano-antennas that capture incoming light and release it after a certain duration causing a change in the direction of incident light (the phenomenon usually brought up by the thickness of lens).

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The lens can be set for different wavelengths of light by changing size, angle and spacing of the nano-antennas. The characteristic flat width which is around 60 nanometers, prevents aberrations (such as fish-eye, astigmatism, coma aberrations) that appear in wide angle lenses. This results in a completely accurate image/signal and saves us from applying the complex corrective techniques.

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