US Researchers develop ultracompact high-resolution camera the size of a salt grain

Researchers from Princeton University and the University of Washington have developed an ultracompact camera that comes in sizes comparable to a grain of salt. According to the developers, the camera is fully capable of producing crisp and full-colour images similar to conventional compound camera lenses that are 5,00,000 times its volume. The near-invisible camera also outshines traditional cameras in the aspect of technology as it does not require curved glasses or plastic lenses to bend light rays into focus.

The camera uses 'Metasurface' over traditional technologies

The camera, unlike traditional cameras, relies on the 'Metasurface' technology, which can be produced much like a computer chip. The metasurface, which is no more than 0.5 millimetres wide is studded with 1.6 million cylindrical posts, each of which is the size of a Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). Each of those million antennas functions like an optical antenna, owing to the unique geometry, the researchers revealed in their paper published in Nature Communications. Each of the posts has to be different as it is necessary to correctly shape the entire optical wavefront. "With the help of machine learning-based algorithms, the posts’ interactions with light combine to produce the highest-quality images and widest field of view for a full-colour metasurface camera developed to date", says a report by Princeton University.

(A comparison of a picture captured by previous ultra-compact cameras (left) with the image captured by new ultra-compact camera. Image: Princeton University)

Ethan Tseng, a computer science PhD student at Princeton and one of the developers also said, "It’s been a challenge to design and configure these little nano-structures to do what you want. For this specific task of capturing large field of view RGB images, it was previously unclear how to co-design the millions of nano-structures together with post-processing algorithms."

The camera can be used in medical robots to diagnose diseases

The developers believe that these cameras can be used by medical robots to help doctors accurately diagnose and treat diseases through improved imaging. Besides, surfaces can also be turned into cameras by developing a network of such ultracompact cameras for full-scene sensing. "We could turn individual surfaces into cameras that have an ultra-high-resolution, so you wouldn’t need three cameras on the back of your phone anymore, but the whole back of your phone would become one giant camera. We can think of completely different ways to build devices in the future", said Joseph Mait, chief scientist at the U.S. Army Research Laboratory.

Image: Princeton University