Rifle Scopes Technical - Nano technology for controlling CA

[Glassaholic]

This is a somewhat technical article that I found very interesting, it appears some Harvard researches have found a way to use nano technology to control chromatic aberrations (CA) in optical designs, the claim is it could reduce the amount of complex design used in many optical instruments (including scopes?) to cut down on weight and eventually cost I would assume, this could be great news for future optics if this technology could be licensed by manufacturers:

https://www.seas.harvard.edu/news/2...-aberrations-across-all-kinds-of-lenses?nr=nr

For those of you who do not care about CA, might I propose that while you may not "see it" it certainly may have an impact on the overall image, take a look at the screenshot from the article below and tell me which image looks more "clear" to you, so while CA may not bother you in general it does have an impact on how the perceived resolution/clarity of the image is especially at the edges between high and low contrast transition.

 

[5RWill]

Wonder what the increased manufacturing cost would be? Could seriously propel some cheaper optics to really compete with the $2000-2500 offerings, which lets be honest are already being approached by optics like the Cronus, Delta Stryker, DMR II Pro, etc. As ILya said in his last video it's becoming increasingly difficult to honestly recommend $3000+ optics with what's becoming available for the money.

 

[koshkin]

I've been keeping tabs on their research for a little while now. The most promising part of it is the works with flat lenses and its applications for short Z-height imaging systems (like cell phones). The technology is not yet close to commercialization cost wise, but it will get there. Combines with computational imaging, it will render traditional cameras effectively obsolete.

As far as riflescopes go, it is unlikely to ever be applied to conventional sporting optics. It may well find an application with electronic systems for the military that might trickle down into digital riflescopes and such.

ILya

 

[Glassaholic]

^^^ So if I understand you correctly ILya, it would only apply to flat lenses and would therefore not be applicable to the structures within a traditional sport optic? When you say "it will render traditional cameras effectively obsolete." can you explain that a little more, if the technology is not applicable to an optic like a rifle scope then how could it apply to a zoom lens which is very similar in design (regarding multiple lens elements designed to direct light)?

 

[koshkin]

^^^ So if I understand you correctly ILya, it would only apply to flat lenses and would therefore not be applicable to the structures within a traditional sport optic? When you say "it will render traditional cameras effectively obsolete." can you explain that a little more, if the technology is not applicable to an optic like a rifle scope then how could it apply to a zoom lens which is very similar in design (regarding multiple lens elements designed to direct light)?

Flat lenses is the most promising of the technology they have been talking about, in my opinion.

The corrector part of it is applicable to traditional optical systems like riflescopes, but since it is a market that is:

1) comparatively not that huge
2) volumes are dominated by very price sensitive produts
3) reasonably well served with existing traditional technology

I doubt we will see anyone try to invest into applying new technologies here.

For the nano stuff to be cost efficient, you need to make a very large number of absolutely identical optical elements. That can work really well for compact camera modules where you can use the same basic optics for a lot of different things.

ILya

 

[Glassaholic]

^^^ Thank you again ILya. So flat lenses is the most promising but not necessarily a requirement of the technology. In order to be cost effective you would want to make large sheets of NanoCA Glass which is something much more applicable to smart phone camera lenses and the like that are mass produced, but the scale of photographic lens glass and especially sport optic glass is much lower which may be more cost prohibitive. It may come down to how difficult applying this nano process to glass elements, maybe as time goes by we'll see this technology leak into some of the more niche areas of optics - like sport optics.

 

[koshkin]

One of the things you want to keep in mind is that since each optical element has its own particular set of CA characteristics, it may require a different metacorrector structure. That would make it really costly to re-develop a unique corrector for every optical system. It is not like you develop a corrector and it works for a bunch of stuff. It has to be custom tailored for each unique set of optical characteristics.

ILya