Researchers unveil ‘bug-eye’ digital camera

The device exploits large arrays of tiny focusing lenses and miniaturised detectors in hemispherical layouts, just like the eyes of arthropods. Its creators say it offers a nearly infinite depth of field, and believe it could be used in surveillance devices and tools for endoscopy. "A critical feature of our fly's eye cameras is that they incorporate integrated microlenses, photodetectors and electronics on hemispherically curved surfaces," explained Jianliang Xiao, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at University of Colorado Boulder. "To realise this, we used soft, rubbery optics bonded to detectors/electronics in mesh layouts that can be stretched and deformed, reversibly and without damage." Xiao and his team first set out by fabricating electronics, detectors and lens arrays using advanced techniques adapted from the semiconductor industry. The lens sheet - made from a polymer material similar to a contact lens - and the electronics/detectors were then aligned and bonded together. The desired hemispherical shape was created using pneumatic pressure, with the individual electronic detectors and microlenses coupled together to avoid any relative motion during this process. According to the researchers, each microlens produces a small image of an object with a form dictated by the parameters of the lens and the viewing angle. An individual detector responds only if a portion of the image formed by the associated microlens overlaps the active area. The detectors stimulated in this way produce a sampled image of the object that can then be reconstructed using models of the optics.