By Xoel Cardenas, Sr. Communications Specialist, Office of the Vice President for Research
From smartphone cameras to space telescopes, to capturing distant galaxies or enabling medical imaging, the ability to focus and capture images shapes how we see and understand the world.
Traditional lenses are limited by their size, complexity, and cost. As technology continues to advance, the need to make optical systems smaller, faster, and more precise without sacrificing performance is vital and will take innovative thinking to find solutions.
For Associate Professor Dr. Berardi Sensale-Rodriguez of the University of Utah’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, innovation means reimagining what’s possible in optical design. His latest project, the development of dynamically tunable focus lens prototypes, is doing just that, using computation to make lenses smarter, thinner, and more adaptable.
Awarded by the University of Utah Research Foundation Board, Sensale-Rodriguez and his collaborators are developing flat, reconfigurable optical systems that can change magnification, similar to how a phone camera zooms, while remaining lightweight and compact for use.
“What we have been trying to do is to use computation to enable the design of optics that can attain performance and functionality that otherwise is not possible,” he said.
By combining computation, advanced materials, and optical engineering, Sensale-Rodriguez and his team aim to revolutionize imaging systems, from cameras and microscopes to satellites and drones.
“It could be very important in systems that might need to be deployable in environments where there are restrictions in that regard,” he said.
The project is part of a long-running collaboration with Professors Rajesh Menon and Steve Blair, also from the U’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Together, they’re combining expertise in optics, materials, and design to push the boundaries of what can be built.
Sensale-Rodriguez credits the U’s research ecosystem for helping make this innovation possible, including having facilities like the Utah Nanofab. He also credits the Technology Licensing Office for being a key resource in any future commercialization support. “It will be great to prototype something and see if it works and then see the commercialization perspective,” he said.
For Sensale-Rodriguez, the work he and other researchers at the U of U do is about more than just innovation, it’s about impact.
“The environment here at the U is really supporting everything that is not just science, but bringing science and technology into real impact,” he said. “Impact with human science, let’s call it, because science has a direct impact on people.”
For more information on this research, contact Dr. Sensale-Rodriguez.
