New Lens Combines Human Eye's Ability to Focus with Insect's Wide-angle View

By combining the focusing ability of the human eye with the wide-angle view of an insect's, researchers at Ohio State University created a lens that could one day lead to smaller and lighter cameras and microscopes.

The device, made of flexible transparent polymer, contains several separate dome-shaped pockets filled with fluid. Because each dome is adjustable, scientists are able to change the overall shape of the lens by pumping fluid in and out of it. As the shape changes, so do the direction and focus of the lens.

Though still in the prototyping phase, the researchers say the lens has already shown exciting promise. Printing the letters O-H-I-O on platforms of different heights, the team pointed the lens at each one from above. Sure enough, it was able to focus in on each letter while the others grew more or less blurry depending on their distance.

The developers imagine a wide range of uses for the lens, such as allowing doctors to focus in on particular areas inside the body.

"With our lens, doctors could get the wide-angle view they need, and still be able to judge the distance between the lens and tissue," Yi Zhao, an associate professor of biomedical engineering an ophthalmology and co-author of the study, said in a statement. "They could place instruments with more confidence, and remove a tumor more easily, for example."

To make this possible, the scientists have created an electrical-friendly version of the lens, which uses electrical signals to expand and contract.

Zhao is especially interested in its potential use in confocal microscopes, which rely on moving glass lenses and a laser to scan three-dimensional images of small objects.

"We believe that it is possible to make a confocal microscope with no moving parts," he said.