Gallery: Scientists develop eye-shaped camera

Here's an actual image obtained with the new 256-pixel electronic eye camera. The top shows the image taken by the camera and the bottom image shows it flattened out.

Credit: Beckman Institute, University of Illinois

The National Science Foundation, one of the sponsors of the research describes this image: "Captured during the electronic eye fabrication process, shows a silicon focal plane array (dark brown) and electronics on a hemispherical transfer element (translucent)."

Credit: Beckman Institute, University of Illinois

This mesh-like material is made up of tiny squares that hold the photodetectors and electronic components. This allows the structure to curve like the eye.

Beckman Institute, University of Illinois

“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. Rogers worked on the project with Yonggang Huang of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.

Beckman Institute, University of Illinois

Silicon photodetector pixels and electronics are interconnected by arc-shaped ribbons. The scale represents 10 micrometers.

Credit: Northwestern University and University of Illinois

This diagram shows the process for using compressed silicon focal plane arrays to fabricate electronic eye cameras.

Credit: John Rogers

The eye camera with a simple, single component imaging lens.

Credit: John Rogers

One of the developers, John Rogers of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

The other leader of the project is Yonggang Huang of Northwestern University.

The team from the University of Illinois is led by John Rogers (rear left) and includes Joe Geddes, Mark Stoykovich, Heung Cho Ko and Viktor Malyarchuk, all postdoctoral researchers.

Credit: L. Brian Stauffer