The aperture of "smart glass"

The aperture of "smart glass" will allow to improve the picture quality of smartphone cameras

The aperture of "smart glass" 

In the lenses of conventional cameras, the aperture consists of several metal plates of a special shape, overlapping each other as they move. Prescriba opening or aperture, the photographer controls the amount of light reaching the camera sensor or to the surface of photographic film. Such an effective mechanism is very complex from a mechanical point of view and cannot be miniaturizzati up to use the aperture in the camera of a smartphone or other portable device. But to obtain the function of the diaphragm it is not necessary to use a mechanical device. This is amply demonstrated by the group of researchers that created the electronic shutter on the basis of technology "smart glass" that can help to do a smartphone cameras high quality pictures.

Researchers from the University of Kaiserslautern (University of Kaiserslautern), Germany, made an electronic aperture using elektrokhimicheskogo material used in the manufacture of "smart Windows" View Dynamic Glass. The material consists of several layers of different polymers which become opaque in the case of applying thereto a small electric potential. Each of the layers formed in the form of a ring, which together form a concentric structure. Sequentially enabling or disabling the ring for the ring can be stepwise to increase or decrease the diameter of the aperture by adjusting the flow passing through the aperture of light. Circular aperture structure allows light evenly and without distortion to cover the surface of the sensor that allows you to take pictures of high quality.

"Currently there are no technologies satisfying such conditions miniaturization that will make it possible to integrate aperture into the camera of the smartphones," says deutchman Tobias (Tobias Deutschmann), - "Many of the previously proposed such devices were based on mechanical movement of different light-absorbing materials that could not completely get rid of the problems with the miniaturization of mechanics. Elektrokhimicheskie materials do not have to move, they are controlled using the simplest of electronic circuits that can easily be placed in any camera small-sized electronic devices".

In addition to all these advantages, elektrokhimicheskie materials do not require permanent presence of an electric potential to maintain the material in an opaque state. Moreover, low switching energy state of the material, is approximately 30 mW, will enable the use of electronic diaphragm with cameras of smartphones with batteries of small capacity.

The only disadvantage of using elektrokhimicheskogo material is very low the speed of his reaction. Now the material requires a few seconds time to switch from transparent to opaque state, and the switch back is still two to three times longer. Of course, such electronic aperture still useless and the researchers soon plan to increase the reaction rate of the diaphragm, using new elektrokhimicheskii the material developed by them at the present time.