Infrared Visible: New Lens Technology
New research unveils ultra-thin lenses that convert infrared light into visible light, marking a important leap in optics. This innovative technology, featuring lithium niobate metalenses, boosts security and sensor capabilities. The development, as covered by News Directory 3, allows for efficient light conversion with nanostructures, potentially revolutionizing authentication methods for currency and artwork. These metalenses also provide the possibility of creating more-compact sensors. Discover what’s next as these metalenses find mass production and diverse applications, from enhanced security features to advances in electronics.
Ultra-Thin Lenses Convert Infrared Light to Visible Light
Updated June 13, 2025
Scientists have engineered an ultra-thin lens capable of transforming infrared light into visible light.These metalenses, developed at ETH zurich, promise advancements in security technology and sensor applications.
conventional camera lenses, essential for sharp images, often contribute to the bulkiness of devices. Recent innovations in optics have led to the creation of metalenses—flat lenses, forty times thinner than a human hair, that manipulate light using nanostructures.
Rachel Grange, a professor at the Institute for Quantum Electronics at ETH Zurich, and her team developed a method using lithium niobate to construct these metalenses. Their research appeared in Advanced Materials.
The process combines chemical synthesis with nanoengineering. A solution containing lithium niobate crystal precursors is stamped in a liquid state, similar to Gutenberg’s printing press, according to Ülle-Linda Talts, a doctoral student working with Grange. Heating the material to 600°C (1112°F) gives it crystalline properties needed for light conversion.
This new technique allows for mass production of lithium niobate nanostructures,which are typically arduous to create. The inverse mould can be reused, making the process cost-effective and faster than other methods.
The resulting lithium niobate metalenses function as normal lenses while also changing the wavelength of laser light.When infrared light at 800 nanometers passes through the lens, visible light at 400 nanometers emerges.
Grange calls this light conversion “magic,” made possible by the metalens’s structure and its nonlinear optical effect. This effect is versatile across a range of laser wavelengths, expanding its potential applications.
Metalenses could be used as security features on banknotes and artworks, making them counterfeit-proof. Their nanoscopic structures and nonlinear material properties allow for reliable authentication.
Researchers can also use camera detectors to convert and steer laser light, making infrared light visible in sensors. This technology could also reduce the equipment needed for deep-UV light patterning in electronics fabrication.
The field of metasurfaces,including these ultra-thin optical elements,is a growing area of research combining physics,materials science,and chemistry.
“The solution containing the precursors for lithium niobate crystals can be stamped while still in a liquid state. It works in a similar way to Gutenberg’s printing press,” said Ülle-linda Talts, co-first author and doctoral student.
What’s next
Grange anticipates significant future impact from this cost-effective technology, emphasizing that current research has only “scratched the surface” of its potential.