It looks like university efforts to create a curved sensor (work #1, work #2) have moved into commercial phase. According to Xconomy report, Cambridge, MA-based start-up MC10 develops a sensor that is curved, like the human retina. That shape is said to be the most compact and efficient way to achieve a wide field of view with just one focusing lens.
The MC10 bendy image sensor and optical system could be much smaller than existing ones, so camera phones could be made even thinner, and satellites and unmanned aerial vehicles made lighter for surveillance and reconnaissance purposes. The three-year-old MC10 has just completed $12.5M venture round B. The optical market has “billion-dollar-plus potential over time,” CEO Dave Icke said in an interview to Xconomy last month.
Curved sensors will totally revolutionize photography and astronomy. Probably a third to a half of elements in a camera lens are to correct for flat field and for spherical aberrations.Curved sensors will thus enable lenses to be faster, smaller ,lighter and sharper-especially wide open. The first manufacturer to come out with a system of lenses to go with their curved sensors will be able to blow the competition out of the water as well as making ALL conventional equipment defunct.Down the track,when the sensors become cheap enough, the sensor could be incorporated in the lens, eliminating any dust problems. Nirvana.
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