Super tiny camera lenses can go inside the body, 'Magic School Bus'-style

Good cameras are bulky, mostly due to the large lenses required to take high-quality pictures. The technology needed to digitally process photos has shrunk down quite a bit since the first digital camera, but until now, the lenses haven't scaled down equally.

Researchers at the University of Stuttgart used 3D printing technology to create a triple-lens system about 0.004 inches (or 0.1mm) wide. That's about the width of a strand of hair or piece of paper. Most of the veins in your body — even at their smallest — are at least 10 times wider than that.

Research, spotted by Forbes, was conducted by Timo Gissibl, Simon Thiele, Alois Herkommer and Harald Giessen and published Monday in Nature Photonics.

The research describes several uses for lenses this small, including the capturing of images in endoscopic procedures. The lenses are so tiny, they could even be fitted onto an optical fiber that fit through a hollow needle.

Lenses this small could also be placed directly onto CMOS sensors — sensors commonly found in digital cameras — or used on drones the size of insects, for discreet security or even spying. High-quality images could be generated from a camera so tiny no one would spot it. 

Multiple lenses are necessary to obtain high-quality images with wide angles. Each additional lens beyond the first makes the images clearer.

To create each lens, the team blasted a liquid with ultra-short laser pulses: electromagnetic pulses that last about one-trillionth of a second. Each pulse hardens the liquid further until it forms a lens. 

Not only do these lenses help us see into smaller places — or perhaps see without being seen — they can be created quickly. Design and manufacturing are possible in less than a day.