Salt Grain Sized Camera

Quite an achievement  

The ultracompact camera system relies on a technology called a metasurface, which is studded with 1.6 million cylindrical posts and can be produced much like a computer chip.  

Researchers Shrink Camera to Size of Salt Grain

Princeton University Electrical and Computer Engineering News, Molly Sharlach

A salt-grain-sized camera developed by researchers at Princeton University and the University of Washington can generate sharp, full-color images comparable to those created using conventional compound camera lenses 500,000 times larger. The technology uses a metasurface studded with 1.6 million microscopic cylindrical posts, each functioning like an optical antenna. Each post's design is varied to shape the optical wavefront correctly, while signal-processing algorithms combine with the posts' optical interactions to generate images. Said the U.S. Army Research Laboratory's Joseph Mait, "Although the approach to optical design is not new, this is the first system that uses a surface optical technology in the front end and neural-based processing in the back."

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