A smart, adaptive and artificial eye that can correct blurry vision

Researchers at Harvard University in the United States have developed a flat, electronically controlled artificial eye. This artificial eye can control three of the major causes for blurry images, which are focus, astigmatism, and image shift.

The research combines breakthroughs in artificial muscle technology to create a lens that can change its focus in real time, just like the human eye. It can also correct for problems like astigmatism and image shift, which the human eye cannot naturally do.

The technology involves the use of Metalens. Metalens is a new type of lens that can focus light and remove spherical problems through a dense pattern of nanostructures, each smaller than a wavelength of light. The researchers managed to attach the metalens to an artificial muscle without compromising its ability to focus light.

In the human eye, the lens is surrounded by ciliary muscle, which stretches or compresses the lens, changing its shape to adjust its focal length. The researchers chose a thin, transparent material through which light can with minimal scattering.