Lens turns smartphone into a microscope: Costs only 3 cents
Researchers at the University of Houston have created an optical lens that can be placed on an inexpensive smartphone to magnify images by a magnitude of 120, all for just 3 cents a lens.
The lens is made of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), a polymer with the consistency of honey, dropped precisely on a preheated surface to cure. Lens curvature -- and therefore, magnification -- depends on how long and at what temperature the PDMS is heated, Sung said. The resulting lenses are flexible, similar to a soft contact lens, although they are thicker and slightly smaller. "Our lens can transform a smartphone camera into a microscope by simply attaching the lens without any supporting attachments or mechanism," the researchers wrote. "The strong, yet non-permanent adhesion between PDMS and glass allows the lens to be easily detached after use. An imaging resolution of 1 (micrometer) with an optical magnification of 120X has been achieved."
Conventional lenses are produced by mechanical polishing or injection molding of materials such as glass or plastics. Liquid lenses are available, too, but those that aren't cured require special housing to remain stable. Other types of liquid lenses require an additional device to adhere to the smartphone. This lens attaches directly to the phone's camera lens and remains attached, Sung said; it is reusable. For the study, researchers captured images of a human skin-hair follicle histological slide with both the smartphone-PDMS system and an Olympus IX-70 microscope. At a magnification of 120, the smartphone lens was comparable to the Olympus microscope at a magnification of 100, they said, and software-based digital magnification could enhance it further.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/05/150504113004.htm
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