Engineers at UCSD have developed a lightweight and ultra-thin “”Origami Lens,”” which can reduce the thickness of the camera without compromising image quality, to be potentially used in cell phones and other applications.
Scientists from the UCSD Jacobs School of Engineering have developed a superthin new camera lens that bends and focuses light in zigzag patterns between two surfaces. The new lens could increase lens precision in the cell phone, computer and military and commercial surveillance industries.
The lens may be used for many industries, including computers and military and commercial surveillance.
“”The project is really about reducing camera thickness without losing resolution as you do with conventional tiny cameras,”” said Eric Tremblay, an electrical and computer engineering Ph.D. student at UCSD’s Jacobs School of Engineering who collaborated with ECE associate professor Joseph Ford on the lens. “”It could be very useful for applications where you want really slim optics, but also want resolution and relatively short exposure time.””
During the project, Tremblay contributed to the laboratory and design work, while Ford led work in the field of folded optics. Ford described the process of creating the Origami Lens as an epiphany.
“”[Like a fiction writer], the idea just popped into my head,”” Ford said.
According to Tremblay, the imager is approximately seven times more powerful than a standard lens with the same dimensions. Today, the Origami Lens is 5 millimeters thick and creates images of the same quality as those taken using a 38-millimeter focal length.
“”This technology used in a cell phone would allow you to take a close-up from far away,”” Ford said. “”[After manufacturing], the idea is that [the product] won’t cost much more than a regular camera phone.””
In order to decrease the thickness of the camera while allowing for high resolution and retention of a good light collection, the telephoto lens of the product is folded inward eight times. Unlike most camera lenses, which bend and focus light through separate lenses, the invention is reflective and bends and focuses light in a zigzag pattern between the two reflective surfaces. Since the lens’s elements are folded on top of each other to form an image, the thickness of the Origami Lens can be condensed by forming a slim pattern.
“”The main implication of the specific folded lens that UCSD is studying will be greatly improved imaging performance for thin cameras,”” said Mark Neifeld, leader of the research team. “”We can imagine these thin cameras being used in cell phones, laptops, automobiles, environmental sensing and all sorts of surveillance applications — both military and commercial.””
The concept would potentially change the fundamental ways in which cameras are designed and manufactured. According to Tremblay, the lens is still in development and the rights have not yet been released to a cell phone manufacturing agency.
Ford and Tremblay’s work is part of a larger project involving the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Montage program, called “”Multi-Domain Optimization for Ultra-Thin Cameras.”” It involves engineers from the University of Arizona, Distant Focus Corporation, CDM Optics, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and UCSD.
The design was finalized in August 2004, while a working prototype was created in early 2005.
However, the first prototype is larger than a lens required for a camera phone.
“”Our first prototype was not concerned with the diameter of the optics, just reduced thickness,”” Tremblay said. “”Our current work is reducing the overall size down to something more practical for portable devices.””
Tremblay remained optimistic about future manufacturing of the product in cell phones.
“”I think it has a lot of potential,”” he said. “”I know that cell phone makers are interested at the moment. It’s nice to put work into something that ends up functioning the way you hoped.””
