Scientists over at the Swinburne University of Technology, in collaboration with Monash University, have developed a super thin, flat and very lightweight graphene oxide optical lens. The lens is 300 times thinner than a sheet of paper and is very useful.
This lens has the capability to change everything
The Australian researchers have developed such a thin lens and it has the ability to offer 3D focus on specific details that are still really hard to image. The concept is known as subwavelength focusing, as it involves viewing details of objects smaller than 200 nanometers. Rapid research is being conducted in the field of nano-optics and on chip photonic systems and there has been some fast development in these sectors due to the ongoing research.
The new lens could be used to develop devices that would be able to view, monitor, trap and manipulate the tiniest of particles. This would be revolutionary for medical diagnosis and treatment; it would even be helpful for imaging and computing. It would help in photonic chips, aerospace photonics, micro machines and as mentioned before non-invasive 3D bio medical imaging. It will have a lot of other uses as well, but the ones mentioned will be the most important ones.
Recent development in nanophotonics have shown a lot of ultrathin flat lens concepts, but hardly any of them have any real life application due to their overly complex designs and time consuming manufacturing processes. The scientists in Australia have come up with a solution to all of this:
"Our lens concept has a 3D subwavelength capability that is 30 times more efficient, able to tightly focus broadband light from the visible to the near infrared, and offers a simple and low-cost manufacturing method," research leader in nanophotonics at Swinburne's Centre for Micro-Photonics (CMP), Associate Professor Baohua Jia, said.
The lead scientists Baohua Jia and Xiaorui Zheng
The scientists were able to make such a thin lens by converting a graphene oxide film into reduced graphene oxide; this was done through a photo-reduction process. The result was a 300 times thinner than paper lens. (Miracles of graphene!)
"These flexible graphene oxide lenses are mechanically robust and maintain excellent focusing properties under high stress," lead author of the research, PhD candidate Xiaorui Zheng said. "They have the potential to revolutionise the next-generation integrated optical systems by making miniaturised and fully flexible photonics devices."
CMP Director, Professor Min Gu, said: "The newly demonstrated laser nano-patterning method in graphene oxides holds the key to fast processing and programming of high capacity information for big data sectors."
This lens could help revolutionize the devices of future generations, and this is a great development in the field on nano-optics. Let’s see what this lens has to offer when it is out.
