Scientists Are One Step Closer to Creating the Perfect Lens

Being able to see microorganisms with the naked eye is basically a superpower in my book, and it looks like scientists are one step closer to making this particular ability a reality by creating the “perfect lens.” This incredibly ambitious project has been in the works for 15 years now, but scientists have encountered numerous obstacles that prevented them from reaching their final goal. There’s good news, however, as a team of scientists over at the Michigan Technological University managed to overcome a very serious obstacle that is linked to light waves and how they are usually consumed when they pass through the lens.

The team is led by PhD candidate at Michigan Tech, Mehdi Sadatgol, professor of electrical and computer engineering at Michigan Tech, Durdu Güney, and two scientists from the Department of Electrical and Systems Engineering of Washington University in St. Louis named Lan Yang and Sahin Kaya Özdemir. The lens would have to be created using something called “metamaterials”, which are artificial materials featuring unusual properties that cannot be found in nature. The team uses very thin silver films that are modified in order to interact differently with light waves. The end goal would be to create the perfect lens using negative index metamaterials that amplify decaying light waves. Güney stated the following:

“In order for the perfect lens to work, you have to satisfy a lot of electromagnetic constraints. We don’t know how exactly the required optical modes [light waves in the material] need to be excited and protected in the lens for the perfect construction of an image.”

Even though there are still quite a few more barriers to overcome, it’s encouraging to finally see an important breakthrough for the “perfect lens” project.

Thank you Thelatestnews for providing us with this information.

Image courtesy of Time.