AsianScientist (Jan. 22, 2019) – Scientists in China have found a low-cost way to create lenses mimicking the compound eyes of insects. They published their findings in the journal ACS Nano.
Single-lens eyes, like those in humans and many other animals, can create sharp images, but the compound eyes of insects and crustaceans have an edge when it comes to peripheral vision, light sensitivity and motion detection. This is because compound eyes are made up of tiny independent repeating visual receptors, called ommatidia, each consisting of a lens, cornea and photoreceptor cells. Some insects have thousands of units per eye and creatures with more ommatidia have increased visual resolution.
Attempts to create artificial compound eyes in the lab are often limited by cost and the resultant device tends to be large despite containing only a fraction of the ommatidia and nanostructures typical of natural compound eyes. Some research groups are using lasers and nanotechnology to generate artificial bug eyes in bulk, but the structures tend to lack uniformity and are often distorted, which compromises sight.
To make artificial insect eyes with improved visual properties, Dr. Wang Wenjun and colleagues at Xi’an Jiaotong University fired a laser through a double layer of acrylic glass, focusing on the lower layer. The laser caused the lower layer to swell, creating a convex dome shape.
Subsequently, the researchers created an array of these tiny lenses that could themselves be bent along a curved structure, creating an artificial eye. They then grew nanostructures on top of the convex glass domes that, up close, resemble a shaggy carpet. The nanostructures endowed the micro-lenses with desirable antireflective and water-repellent properties.
The researchers noted that their fabrication method is inexpensive and allows artificial compound eyes to be manufactured with improved structural homogeneity. They anticipate that their invention will be useful in autonomous vehicles and robots, among other applications.
The article can be found at: Li et al. (2019) Artificial Compound Eyes Prepared by a Combination of Air-Assisted Deformation, Modified Laser Swelling, and Controlled Crystal Growth.
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Source: American Chemical Society.
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