https://phys.org/news/2025-02-flat-telescope-lens-capture-faraway.amp
created by FuNKy_Duck1066 on 28/02/2025 at 05:19 UTC
20 upvotes, 2 top-level comments (showing 2)
This will be a game changer.
Comment by Unusual-Platypus6233 at 28/02/2025 at 06:26 UTC
3 upvotes, 0 direct replies
tl:dr The lens in question is a multilevel diffractive lens (MDL) instead of a fresnel lens plate (FLP) but MDL is also a type of fresnel lens but more sophisticated because the rings (indentations) have different heights which helps minimise chromatic aberration and therefore preserve color.
Comment by j1llj1ll at 28/02/2025 at 06:25 UTC
1 upvotes, 1 direct replies
That example he's holding (and all of the pictures) look like they are doing a lot of diffusion? It's more translucent than transparent.
Could we not have gotten an image of something behaving like a clear lens? Or is this diffusion effect considered acceptable? Or somehow compensated for in other parts of the design? Or .. maybe the article authors just aren't explaining things well ...
Also worth noting that, while this might make refractors lighter for a given aperture .. there are a lot of other factors and competing designs. To change the game, this needs to outperform all of them in at least some real-world niche application.