Researchers build fruit fly eye

DECEMBER 16, 2008--Biotemplating experts based in Spain and the US have reproduced a fruit fly's compound eye in chalcogenide glass -- a material with excellent infrared optical properties and good mechanical durability. Pleased with the result, the team is now busy exploring a wide range of uses for its ultra-compact lens. "Since the compound eyes of flies are very efficient collectors of light, their replicas could also be used to fabricate solar-cell covers and other energy-harvesting structures as well as lenses offering good spatial resolution," says Akhlesh Lakhtakia of Penn State University. "The development of compound-eye-based miniature cameras and optical sensors could stimulate applications in automobile engineering, credit cards, security and surveillance, displays, and medical technology." For more information, go to: http://optics.org/cws/article/research/35381