CHAMPAIGN, Ill., Dec. 15, 2020 — A team of researchers from the University of Illinois has developed a spherical lens capable of allowing incoming light — from any direction — to be focused on the lens’s surface opposite the input direction into a very small spot.

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The lens is one of multiple microlens designs the researchers introduced, each of which are 3D printed and feature adjustable refractive indices. Standard lenses have a single refractive index and, as a result, only a single access point for incoming light to travel through the lens. The ability to precisely control both the shape of the lens in the fabrication process, as well as the properties of the internal refractive index, the researchers introduced two distinct was to manipulate (bend) light inside a single lens. University of Illinois researchers Paul Braun and Lynford Goddard led the study introducing the work. They report that the study is the first to successfully (with submicrometer precision) adjust the direction in which light bends as it travels through a single optical lens. The design of the lenses has the potential to improve existing imaging and communications methods. In computing, the lens technology is poised to enhance the […]

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