Biomimetic Approach for Future Miniaturized Imaging Systems:Biological…

Compound eyes in nature present intriguing topics in physiological optics due to their unique optical scheme for imaging. For example, a bee’s eye has thousands of integrated optical units called ommatidia spherically arranged along a curvilinear surface so that each unit points in a different direction. The omni-directionally arranged ommatidium collects incident light with a narrow range of angular acceptance and independently contributes to the capability of wide field-of-view (FOV) detection. Artificial implementation of compound eyes has attracted a great deal of research interest because the wide FOV exhibits a huge potential for medical, industrial, and military has been achieved only withapplications. So far, imaging with a FOV over 90º fisheye lenses which rely on bulky and expensive multiple lenses and require stringent alignment. In this talk, we will discuss about the 3D polymer synthesis for biologically inspired artificial compound eyes in a small form-factor and the functional and anatomical similiarity between natural and artificial compound eyes.