Researchers from the University of Ottawa have developed a concept that would reduce the size of lenses by a huge margin and effectively eliminate the size of modern optics if combined with a metalens. The team tackled not lens elements themselves, but instead the space between them.
The researchers explain that the last few centuries of optical work rely on perfecting and combining lenses to better control optical performance. Building on that, relatively new nanotechnology has allowed for the development of metalenses that have the capability to shrink down optics by a large degree.
But unaddressed in metalens development is the requirement for space between optical elements. No matter how small a lens can get, it still relies on space in order to produce images. That space will always be an obstacle for miniaturization unless it is addressed directly.
As described in the research paper’s abstract, the researchers pointedly address the issue of space by presenting the concept of and experimentally demonstrating an optical “spaceplate.”
“…an optic that effectively propagates light for a distance that can be considerably longer than the plate thickness. Such an optic would shrink future imaging systems, opening the possibility for ultra-thin monolithic cameras. More broadly, a spaceplate can be applied to miniaturize important devices that implicitly manipulate the spatial profile of light, for example, solar concentrators, collimators for light sources, integrated optical components, and spectrometers.”
The team, led by Dr. Orad Reshef — a senior postdoctoral fellow in the Robert Boyd Group — and Dr. Jeff Lundeen — Canada’s Research Chair in Quantum Photonics and Associate Professor in the Department of Physics at the University of Ottawa — spoke with Phys and explained that the team wanted to address how light spreads out between optical elements and tackle aspects of that process that lens elements can’t do anything about.
In an interview, Dr. Reshef says that light naturally spreads out when it travels, and every optical device currently used relies on that spread in order to work. As an example, he points to the large gap between the eyepiece and the objective lens in a telescope or a camera lens: both rely on that distance and spread in order to properly function.
But that gap, and other gaps in a lens’ design, takes up a lot of space, and his team developed what they call a “spaceplate” that is able to take that same spreading of light and compress it into a “counterpart” to the lens and allow whole imaging systems to get dramatically smaller as a result.
“We considered what would happen if you manipulated light based on the angle rather than the position of a light ray,” Dr. Lundeen said to Phys. “Lenses act via the position of the ray. Angle is a completely novel domain, and no one had shown that it could be used to make something particularly useful. We identified a useful application, compressing space. And then we showed that we could actually design and experimentally demonstrate plates that do exactly that.”
Dr. Reshef says that this development would theoretically allow lens makers to shrink down all manner of large devices that were before thought impossible to miniaturize.
“In order to design it, we need to come up with a new set of rules that is incompatible with that used in lens design. Nobody knows what they are, it’s like the wild west,” he says. “It’s surprising that optical elements like lenses have been around for a millennium and their design rules have been well understood for over 400 years, and yet we’re still discovering such fundamental new optical elements for imaging.”
The spaceplate could work in tandem with a metalens to significantly reduce the size of optics to the point where, in example graphics, the lens appears flush with a camera’s sensor.
The researchers say they are currently working on developing the next generation of the technology to increase the compression factor and improve overall performance.
“We already have some designs to increase the compression factor from five to over 100 times, and to increase the total transmission. To continue doing this, we need to come up with a completely new design paradigm,” Dr. Lundeen says.
While metalenses have threatened to completely eliminate the camera bump in modern smartphones, the spaceplate in combination with metalens technology has the potential to eliminate modern lenses entirely. It’s a possibly revolutionary development in the field of optical science, and the full research report can be read here.
New Lens Tech Poised to Eliminate the Smartphone ‘Camera Bump’
Metalenz, a startup that has just emerged from “stealth mode” today, has revealed its vision for the future of smartphone lenses, a segment of the market that has not seen much change in the last ten plus years.
While sensor technology continues to see notable changes and improvements over time, the technology of lenses has remained rather stagnant, and fundamentally unchanged since the iPhone launched in 2007.
Metalenz wants to change that with a “flat lens system” that it says utilizes a new technology called optical metasurfaces. The claim is that camera systems built around this new technology can produce an image of the same, if not better, quality as traditional lenses while also collecting more light. It can do all this while also taking up less space.
In an excellent report on Wired, Metalenz explains how it is ditching the idea of lens elements in groups, the defacto design of lenses for all cameras, and replacing them with a single lens built on a glass wafer that is between 1×1 to 3×3 millimeters in size. Under a microscope, the nanostructures on this wafer measure a scant one-thousandth the width of a human hair.
The claim is that those nanostructures are able to bend light the same way traditional multi-optic lens arrays do, and even correct for many of the shortcomings found in traditional lenses.
As light passes through these nanostructures, which make up the aforementioned optical metasurfaces, the result is similar to what is being done with curved sensors.
“Much in the way that a curved lens speeds up and slows down light to bend it, each one of these allows us to do the same thing, so we can bend and shape light just by changing the diameters of these circles,” Develin says.
Metalenz claims that the resulting image quality is just as sharp as what you would expect from traditional lens arrays but without the downsides of aberrations that occur when multiple lenses are stacked on one another. According to Wired, Metalenz has already partnered with two semiconductor leaders that are able to manufacture the optical metasurfaces at scale, which is important for a successful consumer rollout.
Metalenz says that it will go into mass production by the end of the year, and its first application will be a 3D sensor in a smartphone of a company it declined to name. The 3D sensor is similar to what is seen on Apple’s FaceID sensor, but because it doesn’t’ need to use lasers to illuminate a subject thanks to the increased light-gathering capabilities of the tech, Metalenz claims its product will be better at power conservation.
It’s unclear when an image-capture sensor by Metalenz will make its way to a consumer product, but if what the company claims is true, the camera bump may soon be a thing of the past. Source petapixel.com
a A spaceplate can compress a propagation length of deff into a thickness d. For example, a beam incident on the spaceplate at angle θ will emerge at that same angle and be transversely translated by length w (resulting in a lateral beam shift Δx), just as it would for deff of free space. b Adding a spaceplate to an imaging system such as a standard camera (top) will shorten the camera (center). An ultrathin monolithic imaging system can be formed by integrating a metalens and a spaceplate directly on a sensor (bottom). c A lens focuses a collimated beam at a working distance corresponding to its focal length f. d A spaceplate will act to shorten the distance from the lens to the focus by a distance |Δ|. The emerging rays are parallel to the original incident rays, which preserves the lens strength. The plate therefore effectively propagates light for a longer length than the physical space it occupies. This effect can be achieved using e, a nonlocal metamaterial, or f, for the extraordinary ray for propagation along the fast axis (e) of a uniaxial birefringent medium with nBG = ne. g A spaceplate can be made of a homogeneous medium with any of these angle-dependent refractive index curves, parametrized by the quantity C.
Fig. 1: Operating principle of a spaceplate.
An optic to replace space and its application towards ultra-thin imaging systems
Cells from a woolly mammoth that died around 28,000 years ago have begun showing “signs of life” during a groundbreaking scientific experiment.
The young woolly mammoth was dug out of Siberian permafrost in 2011. With the species being extinct for about 4,000 years, finding such a relatively intact specimen was big news – particularly since this one was 28,000 years old.
Scientists have since been eager to find out how viable the biological materials of the uncovered mammoth still are, all those millennia later. Now researchers at Kindai University in Japan have found that its DNA is partially intact – and apparently they are well in the game to restore this huge prehistoric mammal back among the living.
If they succeed, it could look something like this (at first).
Anyway, it all comes down to the fact that the scientists at the university have managed to extract nuclei from the mammoth’s cells and transplant them into mouse oocytes – cells found in ovaries that are capable of forming an egg cell after genetic division.
After that, the cells from the 28,000-year-old specimen started to show “signs of biological activities.”
“This suggests that, despite the years that have passed, cell activity can still happen and parts of it can be recreated,” said study author Kei Miyamoto from the Department of Genetic Engineering at Kindai University.
Five of the cells even showed highly unexpected and very promising results, namely signs of activity that usually only occur immediately preceding cell division.
Establishing whether the mammoth DNA could still function wasn’t an easy task. Researchers began by taking bone marrow and muscle tissue samples from the animal’s leg. These were then analyzed for the presence of undamaged nucleus-like structures, which, once found, were extracted.
Once these nuclei cells were combined with mouse oocytes, mouse proteins were added, revealing some of the mammoth cells to be perfectly capable of nuclear reconstitution. This, finally, suggested that even 28,000-year-old mammoth remains could harbor active nuclei.
Meaning, something like, that resurrecting a specimen like this one would be quite possible.
While Miyamoto admits that “we are very far from recreating a mammoth,” plenty of researchers attempting to use gene editing to do so are confident that that achievement is around the corner. Recent efforts, using the controversial CRISPR gene editing tool, are arguably the most promising, of late.
But do we really need to resurrect a species that went extint a long time ago?
KENINGAU：Naib Presiden STARSABAH Datuk Robert Tawik @ Nordin menyokong penuh kenyataan Timbalan Ketua Menteri Sabah yang juga Menteri Kerja Raya Negeri Sabah Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin berhubung dengan penarikan balik kuasa Jabatan Kerja Raya ( JKR ) untuk menyelia jalan Raya di Negeri ini.
Robert yang juga Ahli Dewan Undangan Negeri （ADUN）Bingkor berkata, apa yang dijelaskan oleh Datuk Seri Bung adalah amat tepat.
“Kerajaan Negeri dan Persekutuan perlu ambil perhatian yang sewajarnya agar mengembalikan kuasa kepada JKR” katanya mengulas kenyataan Datuk Seri Bung supaya JKR patut selia Jalan Raya.
Beliau mengesa kepada kerajaan negeri khususnya Ketua Menteri Sabah agar dapat mempertimbangkan semula memberikan kuasa kepada JKR dan menarik balik surat yg telah dikeluarkn untuk menarik kuasa JKR dan memindahkn kuasa kepada Kementerian Kewangan.
“JKR mempunyai ramai Jurutera yg pakar dalam bidang kejuruteraan jalan Raya. JKR juga mampu mengurus pelaksanaan jalan Raya yang lebih baik dan berkualiti” jelasnya.
Ujarnya, jadikan pengalaman masa lalu, di mana pelaksanaan kerja-kerja pembinaan dan penyelenggaraan jalan raya tidak menepati piawaiannya. – BORNEO DAILY BULLETIN
Oleh：Marutin Ansiung
KENINGAU – Kerajaan Persekutuan melalui Unit Perancang Ekonomi, Jabatan Perdana Menteri (EPU, JPM) telah meluluskan 703 projek kecil di Sabah dengan peruntukan sebanyak RM29.48 juta pada tahun 2020.
Menteri Di Jabatan Perdana Menteri (Ekonomi) Datuk Arthur Joseph Kurup (gambar) berkata，daripada jumlah tersebut, 657 projek telah siap sepenuhnya dengan jumlah pembayaran sebanyak RM22.25 juta telah dilaksanakan. Peruntukan tersebut diuruskan oleh Pihak Berkuasa Pembangunan Ekonomi dan Pelaburan Sabah (SEDIA) yang dilantik sebagai agensi pelaksana.
“Walau bagaimanapun, masih terdapat beberapa projek dalam peringkat pelaksanaan dan berlakunya sedikit kelewatan akibat pelaksanaan Perintah Kawalan Pergerakan (PKP)” katanya.
Tambahnya, peruntukan tersebut dapat membantu kontraktor-kontraktor kecil khususnya bagi kelas E dan F di luar bandar untuk mengurangkan beban kewangan yang dihadapi usahawan kontraktor. Langkah ini adalah selaras dengan dasar kerajaan untuk merancakkan kegiatan ekonomi”.
“Antara projek-projek kecil yang dilaksanakan ialah baik pulih jalan kampung, naik taraf jalan kebun, naik taraf jalan kebun, pembinaan jambatan gantung, sistem bekalan air kampung, pembaikan jeti dan penyelenggaraan sistem perparitan”.
“Ini juga menunjukkan usaha serta keprihatinan Kerajaan Persekutuan dalam menangani masalah kerosakan dan kekurangan infrastruktur di Sabah khususnya bagi kawasan luar bandar” jelasnya.
Arthur yang juga Ahli Parlimen Pensiangan berkata, Kerajaan terus komited untuk mengatasi masalah kerosakan dan pembaikan infrastruktur walaupun dalam keadaan pandemik serta mengalami keadaan ekonomi yang mencabar dan sumber kewangan yang agak terhad.
Katanya lagi, langkah seperti ini bertujuan bagi membantu merancakkan lagi ekonomi setempat sehingga ke peringkat akar umbi serta membuka lebih banyak peluang pekerjaan kepada penduduk tempatan.
Ini katanya, merupakan antara usaha untuk membaik pulih ekonomi negara sejak pandemik COVID-19 yang melanda negara sejak Mac 2020 yang telah memberi impak kepada seluruh lapisan masyarakat sehingga hari ini.
KOTA KINABALU: Timbalan Ketua Menteri, Bung Moktar Radin menyelar tindakan Kementerian Kewangan Sabah yang menarik balik semua kuasa Jabatan Kerja Raya (JKR) untuk menyelia jalan raya di negeri itu.
Katanya, apa yang lebih ‘pelik’, kuasa itu dipindahkan kepada Kementerian Kewangan yang langsung tidak memiliki jurutera berbanding JKR.
“Saya selaku menteri di kementerian ini (kerja raya) kurang berpuas hati dengan apa yang dilaksanakan Kementerian Kewangan berhubung penganugerahan kerja-kerja naik taraf jalan MCDC (Majlis Perbandaran dan Majlis Daerah).
“Kerajaan telah membayar Pembinaan Kekal Mewah (PKM) RM2.6 bilion mulai 2002 hingga 2020, namun rekod menunjukkan dalam data MARRIS (Sistem Maklumat Rekod-Rekod Jalan Raya Malaysia) keadaan jalan MCDC telah merosot dengan teruk sejak syarikat PKM dipilih sebagai syarikat konsesi penyelenggaraan untuk jalan MCDC,” katanya ketika ditemui, di sini, hari ini.
Bung berkata, Suruhanjaya Pencegahan Rasuah Malaysia (SPRM) pada 2016 telah meminta Kementerian Kewangan Sabah menyerahkan pengawasan teknikal kejuruteraan kepada JKR kerana ia jabatan bagi menangani semua perkara teknikal di Sabah.
Sehubungan itu, katanya, JKR Sabah telah dilantik sebagai pengarah projek untuk mengawasi kerja-kerja penyelenggaraan jalan MCDC dari 2017 hingga 2020 dan telah membuat peningkatan yang besar untuk menambahkan panjang penyelenggaraan jalan MCDC menjadi 8,165km dan bukannya 6,000km yang diminta oleh PKM pada 24 Mei lalu.
“Tetapi malangnya lagi, Kementerian Kewangan Sabah juga mengeluarkan satu surat pada 28 atau 29 hari bulan, iaitu menarik semua kuasa JKR dan memindahkan kepada kuasa di menteri kewangan untuk menyelia jalan raya ini.
“Saya pun tidak tahu, ada di mana Kementerian Kewangan dan kerajaan tempatan mempunyai jurutera, yang pakar dan arif dalam hal jalan raya…tiba-tiba mereka telah mengeluarkan satu surat,” katanya.
Bung berkata, beliau mempersoalkan perkara itu bukan kerana tidak dapat mengendalikan penyeliaan jalan raya di Sabah sebaliknya kerana kemarahan rakyat terhadap kualiti jalan raya di negeri itu.
Katanya, perkara itu tidak seharusnya berlaku selain perlu dibincang dengan lebih terperinci.
“Saya dianggap macam ‘rubber stamp’, saya bukan marah kerana tidak dapat mengendalikan perkara ini tetapi saya marah dan rakyat pun marah, perkara ini harus dihentikan.
“Kita perlu menumpukan dan mempertingkatkan kualiti jalan raya kita termasuk menambah jalan raya tidak berturap atau 60% jalan raya MCDC yang tidak berturap, diturap.
“Kalau kita dapat mungkin 10% setiap tahun ataupun 5% (penyelenggaraan jalan), bermakna 10 tahun kita dapat 50%, tetapi sekarang ini kita dapat kosong,” katanya.
Kementerian Kewangan Sabah kini diterajui Ketua Menteri Hajiji Noor sebagai menteri kewangan 1 manakala Masidi Manjun sebagai menteri kewangan 2.
Sementara itu, Bung turut menyifatkan tindakan Kementerian Kewangan Sabah itu boleh menimbulkan kemarahan rakyat yang mendorong kepada pertukaran kerajaan pada masa akan datang.
“Jadi saya ingin menyuarakan ini supaya Kementerian Kewangan Sabah dapat melihat perkara ini untuk kebaikan rakyat, kita tidak boleh menidakkan suara rakyat.
“Rakyat sering kali menukar kerajaan sebab mereka sudah bosan, sebab tindakan daripada kerajaan selalu salah dan tidak ada fokus kepada masalah yang dihadapi rakyat,” katanya. – FMT
KUALA LUMPUR: TUDM telah mengesan penerbangan mencurigakan sebanyak 16 buah pesawat Tentera Udara Republik Rakyat China/ People’s Liberation Army- Air Force (PLAAF) memasuki ruang udara ZMM, Kota Kinabalu FIR dan menghampiri ruang udara nasional pada 31 Mei 2021.
Panglima Tentera Udara, Jeneral Tan Sri Ackbal bin Hj Abdul Samad, dalam satu kenyataan media petang tadi berkata, penerbangan pesawat-pesawat PLAAF tersebut telah dikesan oleh Radar Pertahanan Udara TUDM daripada Pusat Pertahanan Udara (CRC 2) di Sarawak pada jam 1153H. Pesawat- pesawat tersebut telah dikesan terbang secara formasi taktikal in-trail pada jarak 60 batu nautika di antara satu sama lain.
Katanya, formasi panjang tersebut juga telah terbang dengan paten dan haluan yang sama menggunakan satu titik laluan masuk dan keluar. Mereka kemudiannya didapati mengubah arah penerbangan di ruang udara Beting Patinggi Ali yang berkepentingan kepada negara.
“Pesawat-pesawat tersebut telah dikesan terbang pada ketinggian di antara 23,000 kaki sehingga 27,000 kaki dengan kelajuan 290 knots melalui Singapore FIR sebelum memasuki ruang udara ZMM, KK FIR dan seterusnya terbang menghala menghampiri 60 batu nautika daripada pesisir pantai Wilayah Sarawak yang dikhuatiri akan mengancam KEDAULATAN NEGARA.
“Pihak TUDM telah meletakkan pesawat Hawk 208 daripada No. 6 Skuadron, Pangkalan Udara Labuan di dalam keadaan siap sedia melalui Operasi Curiga TUDM. Pemantauan menerusi radar pertahanan udara diteruskan ke atas pesawat-pesawat tersebut disamping beberapa percubaan untuk mengarahkan mereka menghubungi kawalan trafik udara KK FIR,” jelas beliau.
Menurutnya lagi, apabila arahan tidak dipatuhi dan didapati melangkaui persempadanan KK FIR menghala ke ruang udara nasional, TUDM telah melancarkan pesawat-pesawat pemintas pada jam 1333H untuk melakukan identifikasi visual.
“Hasil daripada pemintasan udara yang dilaksanakan, TUDM telah mengenalpasti pesawat-pesawat tersebut adalah daripada jenis Ilyushin Il-76 dan pesawat Xian Y-20. Pesawat-pesawat jenis ini merupakan pesawat pengangkut strategik dan berupaya melaksanakan pelbagai misi.
“Insiden ini merupakan perkara yang serius terhadap ancaman KEDAULATAN NEGARA dan KESELAMATAN PENERBANGAN berdasarkan kepadatan trafik udara di dalam laluan penerbangan (Airways) di dalam KK FIR.
“Insiden ini telah dikendalikan oleh TUDM khasnya dan ATM amnya berlandaskan undang-undang dan peraturan penerbangan antarabangsa International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) serta Strategi Pertahanan Udara Nasional (SPUN). Kementerian Luar Negeri telah mengambil maklum tentang perkara ini melalui Kementerian Pertahanan,” tambah beliau. – Borneo Daily Bulletin
