Technology
Small, flat “metalenses” are made up of billions of nano-sized components, and they could image the cosmos using less space on a satellite than bulkier traditional devices
An image of the North America Nebula taken with the metalens
Courtesy of Joon-Suh Park
To take high-quality images of the stars, astronomers usually need thick, curved lenses to bend the light precisely. But researchers have designed a flat lens that can take sharp images of the night sky thanks to billions of nanostructures in the material. It is lightweight and resilient to damage, so it could eventually be incorporated into satellites.
These so-called “metalenses” use metamaterials and tend to be hundreds of times thinner than conventional lenses. One metalens can often replace several …
