Lenses that are millimeters thick can be made by making metamaterials that can diffract light. One interesting difference between these lenses and traditional optical lenses is these lenses can make it possible to make cameras that capture complete polarization information. Analyzing polarization of light makes it possible to classify the materials the light is reflecting off of in a way that is not possible with nonpolarized light cameras, for example it can differentiate between this artificial skin and genuine human skin. It can sometimes see through glare and haze and see black ice on a highway. Cancerous growths can have a different underlying structure from normal cells that is detectable with polarized light.
Why 10,000 tiny lenses are the key to our sci-fi future | Hard Reset - Freethink
