An cheap , minuscule ocular crystalline lens can turn any sleazy former smartphone into a microscope . A cent ’s Charles Frederick Worth of material can achieve high resolution images of one micrometer length and at a magnification of 120x .
make grow by aUniversity of Houston team led by Yulung Sung , the lens is made by dropping polydimethylsiloxane ( PDMS ) – a polymer with the consistence of honey – onto a preheated aerofoil to harden it . Each droplet is produced by hand using a machine that play like an inkjet printer ( depict above ) . The curve of the lens decides the magnification of the scope , and this depend on how long and how red-hot the polymer is ignite . It ’s flexible like a gentle contact electron lens , but thicker , and it can be impound straight to the smartphone lens – no other gimmick is required . The adhesion is strong , but it ’s detachable and reclaimable .
To try out their lens system , the team captured images of a human hide - hair follicle slide using their smartphone - PDMS arrangement and also an Olympus IX-70 microscope . Their smartphone lens at a magnification of 120 was comparable to the Olympus at 100x overstatement . With digital package , the figure could be enhance even further .
Here ’s a equivalence of human cutis and tomentum follicle cross - section slides imaged with an Olympus IX-70 microscope at 40x magnification ( a ) , 100x magnification ( b ) , 200x magnification ( c ) , and with a Nokia Lumia 520 smartphone and the PDMS lens system of rules ( d ) . The bottom row shows each of the magnified neighborhood .
Y Sung et al . , J. Biomed . Opt . 2015 . blowup using an Olympus IX-70 microsope , and with a modified smartphone .
This microscope was a result of “ a $ 20 headphone and a 1 penny genus Lens , ” Sung says in anews release . That penny covers just the cost of material . To manufacture the lenses in bulk , the team estimate that it would be about 3 cents each . microscope can cost ten-spot of thousands more . Traditional lenses are manufactured with mechanical polishing or shot molding of glass or plastics , while liquid lenses require extra study to remain stable or an additional attachment to stick around onto the smartphone .
A lens of the eye like this could be fantastically useful for all sorts of options , from classrooms with young children to quarantined clinics miss funds and facility . And the images would be easy to share !
Theworkwas put out in theJournal of Biomedical Opticslast month .
[ ViaUniversity of Houston ]
