Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. Space Industry and Business News .




TECH SPACE
Bake Your Own Droplet Lens
by Staff Writers
Washington DC (SPX) Apr 28, 2014


A single droplet lens suspended on a fingertip. Image courtesy Stuart Hay.

A droplet of clear liquid can bend light, acting as a lens. Now, by exploiting this well-known phenomenon, researchers have developed a new process to create inexpensive high quality lenses that will cost less than a penny apiece.

Because they're so inexpensive, the lenses can be used in a variety of applications, including tools to detect diseases in the field, scientific research in the lab and optical lenses and microscopes for education in classrooms.

"What I'm really excited about is that it opens up lens fabrication technology," says Steve Lee from the Research School of Engineering at Australian National University (ANU) of the new technique, which he and his colleagues describe in a paper published today in The Optical Society's (OSA) open-access journal Biomedical Optics Express.

Drop, Bake, Repeat
Many conventional lenses are made the same way lenses have been made since the days of Isaac Newton-by grinding and polishing a flat disk of glass into a particular curved shape.

Others are made with more modern methods, such as pouring gel-like materials molds. But both approaches can be expensive and complex, Lee says. With the new method, the researchers harvest solid lenses of varying focal lengths by hanging and curing droplets of a gel-like material-a simple and inexpensive approach that avoids costly or complicated machinery.

"What I did was to systematically fine-tune the curvature that's formed by a simple droplet with the help of gravity, and without any molds," he explains.

Although people have long recognized that a droplet can act as a lens, no one tried to see how good a lens it could be. Now, the team has developed a process that pushes this concept to its limits, Lee says.

All that's needed is an oven, a microscope glass slide and a common, gel-like silicone polymer called polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). First, drop a small amount of PDMS onto the slide. Then bake it at 70 degrees Celsius to harden it, creating a base. Then, drop another dollop of PDMS onto the base and flip the slide over.

Gravity pulls the new droplet down into a parabolic shape. Bake the droplet again to solidify the lens. More drops can then be added to hone the shape of the lens that also greatly increases the imaging quality of the lens. "It's a low cost and easy lens-making recipe," Lee says.

The researchers made lenses about a few millimeters thick with a magnification power of 160 times and a resolution of about 4 microns (millionths of a meter)-two times lower in optical resolution than many commercial microscopes, but more than three orders of magnitude lower in cost. "We're quite surprised at the magnification enhancement using such a simple process," he notes.

A 3-D Printed Microscope for $2
Their low cost-low enough to make them disposable-allows for a host of uses, he says. In particular, the researchers have built a lens attachment that turns a smartphone camera into a dermascope, a tool to diagnose skin diseases like melanoma. While normal dermascopes can cost $500 or more, the phone version costs around $2.

The new dermascope, which was made using a 3-D printer and is designed for use in rural areas or developing countries, is slated to be commercially available in just a few months, Lee says. A similar smartphone-based tool can also help farmers identify pests out in their fields.

Lee also envisions that the lenses could be used in the lab as implantable lenses that biologists can use to study cells in vivo. The high cost of conventional lenses usually dissuades scientists from implanting them into mice, he says.

The lenses would also be ideal for hobbyists or as part of low cost mobile microscopes that can be distributed to kids and other members of the public for educational or outreach purposes, he adds. "Simple optics can be very powerful."

So far, the researchers can't make lenses much bigger than half an inch in diameter. But to expand the range of applications, the team is now refining the process to make lenses as large as two inches and increasing the lens's optical performance.

"Fabricating Low Cost and High Performance Elastomer Lenses using Hanging Droplets," W. M. Lee et al., Biomedical Optics Express, Vol. 5, Issue 5, pp. 1626-1635 (2014).

.


Related Links
The Optical Society
Space Technology News - Applications and Research






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle




Memory Foam Mattress Review
Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News





TECH SPACE
Mantis Shrimp Stronger than Airplanes
Riverside CA (SPX) Apr 27, 2014
Inspired by the fist-like club of a mantis shrimp, a team of researchers led by University of California, Riverside, in collaboration with University of Southern California and Purdue University, have developed a design structure for composite materials that is more impact resistant and tougher than the standard used in airplanes. "The more we study the club of this tiny crustacean, the mo ... read more


TECH SPACE
Australians report flaming object falling from sky

China aids in cutting down space debris

Space junk problem discussed

Exelis advancing sensor detection system

TECH SPACE
Harris providing tactical communications to country in central Asia

A Multi-Billion Dollar Military Satellite Market

Production Ramps Up on next Advanced EHF Birds

Sagetech to Study Micro-Mode 5 Transponder for US Navy

TECH SPACE
Russian rocket falls back to Earth with super satellite

Replacing Russian-made rocket engines is not easy

Pre-launch processing begins for the O3b Networks satellites

US sanctions against Russia had no effect on International Launch Services

TECH SPACE
British MoD works on 'quantum compass' technology to replace GPS

China's Beidou navigation system makes breakthrough

Iran to Host Russian Satellite Navigation Facility

Moscow to suspend American GPS sites on Russian territory from June

TECH SPACE
Airbus Group Inc. banners 300th UH-72A helicopter delivery

Belgium asks U.S. for F-16 upgrade equipment

Sikorsky moves forward with optionally-piloted helicopters

Saudi seeks stronger US-Gulf military cooperation

TECH SPACE
Magnetic Compass Orientation in Birds Builds Case for Bio-Inspired Sensors

A Lab in Your Pocket

Molecular Foundry Opens the Door to Better Doping of Semiconductor Nanocrystals

New lab-on-a-chip device overcomes miniaturization problems

TECH SPACE
Earth Science Applications Travelogue: Maury Estes

GOES-R Propulsion and System Modules Delivered

Experts demonstrate versatility of Sentinel-1

Kazakhstan's First Earth Observation Satellite to Orbit

TECH SPACE
China detains 60 people over incinerator protest

Dangerous nitrogen pollution could be halved

Study lists dangerous chemicals linked to breast cancer

Study strengthens link between neonicotinoids and collapse of honey bee colonies




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement All images and articles appearing on Space Media Network have been edited or digitally altered in some way. Any requests to remove copyright material will be acted upon in a timely and appropriate manner. Any attempt to extort money from Space Media Network will be ignored and reported to Australian Law Enforcement Agencies as a potential case of financial fraud involving the use of a telephonic carriage device or postal service.