Upstart Vancouver-based technology firm NexOptic Technology and acquisition target Spectrum Optix on Tuesday night for the first time publicly unveiled field test images taken with the company’s proprietary new Blade Optics telescope prototype, an invention that changes humanity’s understanding of optics and will impact many industries.

“We’ve become a sum greater than our parts,” said CEO Paul McKenzie during a ritzy launch event at Vancouver’s HR MacMillan Space Centre, in which Engineering News participated.

McKenzie explained that Calgary-based Spectrum's technology employed flat surfaces and held potential for significant consolidation of the length of lens stacks found in traditional light-capturing systems, such as cameras and telescope lenses, in addition to potential improvements to quality, clarity and resolution of other imagery systems, including those found in computer graphics and mobile devices.

NexOptic long range precision measurement, spectroscopy and image processing specialist Carey Wheeler believes that the Blade Optics lens stack, and now the latest application Diamond Blade Optics for mobile devices, is a “massive leap” in technology that “will become the foundation of things science cannot yet understand”.

Wheeler likened the way new flat lens technology is able to capture light and adapt it to the eye, to how the Wright brothers were able to adapt wings for aircraft to make them fly for the first time.

“We can do almost anything. We will improve several industries including geometrics, manufacturing, robotics, engineering to name a few. It is beyond what we imagined,” he shared.

NexOptic systems advisor Page Tucker noted the new technology is going to be disruptive to optics as we know it. It will provide the ability to map the world in unprecedented precision. It will virtually make the profession of surveying obsolete, he said.

“Since the pixels on a flat lens are precise and perfect, you will now be able to measure the height, latitude and longitude of points without the intervention of a human. Blade Optics changes the way we see the entire universe,” he enthused.

NexOptic director, technology futurist and award-winning author Stephen Petranek pointed out another practical application of Blade Optics: eye glasses. He says the technology will make it possible to improve the efficacy of current prescription glasses by at least ten times.

Inventors and co-founders of Spectrum John and Darcey Daugela recalled about a decade earlier how the brothers developed an array that could concentrate light in a private backyard using an inflatable swimming pool. At dusk it proved that they had found the ability to concentrate light.

Importantly, the Daugela’s said that because the lens works by using a specific geometry, it is scalable in size to either side of the spectrum. Of particular interest is to see how flat the lens can be so that it can be combined with mobile phones, bringing big-aperture lenses to that market.

DIAMOND BLADE OPTICS
NexOptic and Spectrum announced on Tuesday an engineering trade study to examine the application of Spectrum's technology in certain mobile devices, including smartphones, called Diamond Blade Optics.

It could enable smartphones to effectively image objects at greater distances than they are currently capable of. The Daugela brothers believe Diamond Blade Optics holds the potential to become a competitive choice in future telephoto smartphone camera systems, specifically relating to the emerging dual camera system segment of that mobile market.

“Diamond Blade Optics is perfect for low-light applications, and will be able to add a host of other features to mobile photography, including the nonobservable spectrum and even thermal images. The application of the technology results in a high signal to noise ratio.

“It’s disrupting a 400-year old technology,” they said.

The engineering trade study is the first step towards the development of a prototype intended to demonstrate to industry participants a telephoto lens system for mobile devices which utilises Spectrum's latest technology.

The companies said they were encouraged by preliminary simulated image results recently obtained using Zemax ray tracing software from their Diamond Blade Optics design for mobile devices. This is the same optical simulation software used to create the proof of concept (POC) telescope prototype containing their patent pending Blade Optics technology.

“The initiation of this new engineering trade study is intended to build and expand upon our current Blade Optics telescope prototype with the goal of extending the application of our technology to the significantly larger mobile market. The knowledge gained during the engineering and construction processes of our first prototype provided the groundwork for us to embark on scaling our designs into a multitude of other applications,” Spectrum president John Daugela stated.

“With over 1.5-billion smartphones sold in 2016, we are excited to pursue the development of a telephoto lens system capable of fitting into and enhancing the user experience of mobile devices,” he said.

NEXT STEPS
The companies believe that this new mobile device-focused optical system design has the potential to significantly increase the field of view currently available in their POC telescope.

Like the POC, this new optical design will maintain a thin aperture-to-depth ratio, which is another one of the fundamental value propositions of the Spectrum technology.

Optical prototyping specialist firm Ruda Cardinal, which was the primary contractor that assisted in developing the companies’ telescope prototype, will be supporting the companies' development programme for the planned mobile device optical system. The companies’ development path is expected to follow a similar four-phase design and build programme as their telescope prototype.

Spectrum has also filed a patent application specific to Diamond Blade Optics with the US Patent Office.