Perfect Colors, Captured with 1 Ultra-Thin Lens (IMAGE)
Caption
Ordinary refractive lenses (left) suffer from significant chromatic aberrations as different wavelengths are focused in different spots. To compensate for this chromatic dispersion, additional lenses have to be added in an objective to compensate for chromatic aberrations as the number of wavelengths to be corrected increases. A so-called achromatic doublet corrects for 2 wavelengths, an apochromat for 3 and finally a so called super-achromat for four wavelengths. The Harvard team's new metasurface lenses (right) are designed to focus light in the same spot for 3 different wavelengths with no need to increase the lens thickness and footprint.
Credit
Image courtesy of Federico Capasso and Francesco Aieta, Harvard SEAS.
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