The materials in the lenses developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Materials Research Laboratory change when they react to heat.

The Materials Research Laboratory at MIT is working on a prototype camera lens that can flip the script on the focus of a traditional camera. The lens mentioned in detail in this article can quickly shift the focus using heat-sensitive materials. The lens will move with fluctuations in temperature.

What needs to be clear is that this prototype is still far from your or my hands. But it does show that there are other interesting ways to deal with photography, optical properties, and camera micromechanics.

The working principle of traditional lenses-when focusing, your camera must move multiple parts to create the sharpest image possible. It depends on the brand and hardware you use. Modern zoom lenses are basically complex micromechanical units that move in and out at different speeds and surround the object as the center.

For the photographer, this is just a matter of moving one or two buttons, but for the lens, a lot of adjustments, movements, and evaluations are required before an angle is determined.

What's in this lens-the work of the MIT team is particularly impressive because it excludes sports. Its "ultra-thin adjustable super lens" relies on heat to work. The materials used by the team are modified forms of tellurium and germanium. This material is present in CDs and is sensitive to temperature increases, but the team managed to make the lens work instead of succumbing to changes in heat.

By adding selenium to the composition of the MIT team, the researchers pointed out that the matter “transforms from an amorphous, random entanglement of atoms to a more ordered crystal structure.” This has a direct effect on refraction, which means how light is Transfer from one medium to another. In this way, the optical properties of the lens have changed. At room temperature, the lens irradiates infrared light at a closer angle. Once you apply heat, it will pull to a wider vantage point.

Scholars at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology believe that this camera lens can eventually integrate a micro heater. Therefore, heating and cooling within a safe range should not be a problem. But it is unclear whether this prototype will become mainstream. Currently, the team believes that it may be useful for thermal imaging cameras or night vision optical devices. Maybe, eventually, we might even see them in smartphones.