Integrated elastic microscope device

Abstract

The growing power of imaging and computing power of smartphones is creating the possibility of converting your smartphone into a high power pocket microscopy system. High quality miniature microscopy lenses attached to smartphone are typically made with glass or plastics that can only be produce at low cost with high volume. To revise the paradigm of microscope lenses, we devised a simple droplet lens fabrication technique that which produces low cost and high performance lens. Each lens is integrated into thin 3-D printed holder with complimentary light emitted diode (LEDs) that clips onto majority of smartphones. The integrated device converts a smartphone into a high power optical microscope/dermatoscope at around $2. This low cost device has wide application in a multitude of practical uses such as material inspection, dermascope and educational microscope.

Sub-micrometre accurate free-form optics by three-dimensional printing on single-mode fibres

“…Conventionally, free-form optics are generated by using multi-axial lathes, magnetorheological finishing, moulding and ion beam finishing techniques. Free-form optics are commonly considered as the future of modern optics, combining optical performance with systems integration 9 10 . A plethora of applications, such as imaging, illumination, beam shaping 11 , and particularly on the microscale, microscopy, endoscopy and inspection, would consequently be enabled.…”