New way to correct for chromatic aberrations?

[PeteM]

Interesting if we see it commercialized: https://phys.org/news/2018-11-meta-surf ... enses.html

Maybe someday won't have to (just) lust after pricey apo objectives??

[Scarodactyl]

Wow, that should open all sorts of awesome possibilities!

[billbillt]

Thanks for posting the link... Yes, this is mind boggling...

BillT

[MicroBob]

Hi Pete,

thank you for the link!
It probably takes a while until this is available for practical use since it would be near impossile to clean it as it is.
In cameras they use a different approach: Chromatic and other errors are accepted in the objective itself and corrected digitally afterwards. This makes sense as development and price reduction is quicker on the electronics side. The DSLR doesn't have much future left, the development goes towards mirrorless cameras with high resolution electronic viewfinders. This might as well continue to the microscopes with a colour corrected live view image.
So maybe these nano pillar lenses won't be used in imaging at all but perhaps for other applications where a digital correction is out of question.

Bob

[apochronaut]

Interesting if we see it commercialized: https://phys.org/news/2018-11-meta-surf ... enses.html

Maybe someday won't have to (just) lust after pricey apo objectives??

It will just raise the bar of what is possible with each class of lens. There have been dramatic improvements in the quality of achromats, since the restrictions on tube length and parfocal length have opened up. Achromats now exist that one would have taken for a fluorite, 50 years ago and a 20 year old planapo would sorely disappoint a cutting edge cell biologist today.