Samsung, Caltech create ultra-thin camera lens for smartphones

Researchers from Caltech and smartphone giant Samsung have successfully created a flat lens that could prove to be thinner than a strand of human hair.

According to the tech website Digital Trends, the lens "can be stacked on top of a digital sensor to create a tiny camera combo."

The lens has been manufactured using two sheets of silicon cylinders, instead of multiple pieces of glass used traditionally.

The team of researchers was successful in altering how the light passed through the lens to focus the image with one sheet by changing the diameter of the cylinders.

The flat lenses, in combination with the sensors, can not only be used for smartphones and smart wearable but also for other scientific uses such as endoscopic cameras, added Digital Trends.

Earlier this year, RT reported a similar invention by a computer engineer, who created flat lenses that could be used in medical devices, in which thinner and lighter endoscopes can peer into the human body. Drones and satellites can also make use of the lenses to carry with lighter cameras.