By combining stretchable optoelectronics and biologically inspired design, scientists have created a remarkable imaging device, with a layout based on the human eye.

As reported in the Aug. 7 issue of the journal Nature, researchers at the University of Illinois and Northwestern University have developed a high-performance, hemispherical "eye" camera using an array of single-crystalline silicon detectors and electronics, configured in a stretchable, interconnected mesh.

The camera's design is based on that of the human eye, which has a simple, single-element lens and a hemispherical detector. The camera integrates such a detector with a hemispherical cap and imaging lens to yield a system with the overall size, shape and layout of the human eye.

The work opens new possibilities for advanced camera design. It also foreshadows artificial retinas for bionic eyes similar in concept to those in the movie "Terminator" and other popular science fiction.

"Conformally wrapping surfaces with stretchable sheets of optoelectronics provides a practical route for integrating well-developed planar device technologies onto complex curvilinear objects," said John Rogers, the Flory-Founder Chair Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at Illinois, and author of the paper.

"This approach allows us to put electronics in places where we couldn't before," Rogers said. "We can now, for the first time, move device design beyond the flatland constraints of conventional wafer-based systems."

Over the last 20 years, many research groups have pursued electronic eye systems of this general type, but none has achieved a working camera.
"Optics simulations and imaging studies show that these systems provide a much broader field of view, improved illumination uniformity and fewer aberrations than flat cameras with similar imaging lenses," said Rogers.

"Hemispherical detector arrays are also much better suited for use as retinal implants than flat detectors," Rogers said."The ability to wrap high-quality silicon devices onto complex surfaces and biological tissues adds very interesting and powerful capabilities to electronic and optoelectronic device design, with many new application possibilities."

Funding was provided by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy.

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