By replacing bulky lenses with software-driven sensor arrays, the researchers unlock a new era of flexible, high-resolution and scalable imaging.
High-resolution imaging has long been constrained by conventional optics. Lenses require precise alignment and create trade-offs between resolution, field of view, and working distance, making tasks like microscopic analysis, industrial inspection, and forensic imaging difficult or invasive. Overcoming these physical limitations has been a major challenge for scientists and engineers.
To address this, researchers at the University of Connecticut developed the Multiscale Aperture Synthesis Imager (MASI). Inspired by the Event Horizon Telescope, which combined radio telescopes to image a black hole, MASI applies a similar principle to visible light using multiple independent sensors. Instead of relying on physical synchronization, each sensor captures raw diffraction patterns, which are computationally combined to reconstruct high-resolution images.
This lens-free, computational approach allows MASI to achieve sub-micron resolution across wide fields without lenses. The system is scalable, flexible, and capable of 3D reconstruction from measurements taken centimeters away. It represents a paradigm shift in imaging, where computation replaces traditional optical constraints, opening new possibilities for science, medicine, and industry.
Key technology features include:
- Lens-free imaging: Captures diffraction patterns without traditional optics
- Computational phase synchronization: Digitally aligns independent sensor data
- Wide-field, sub-micron resolution: Enables detailed 3D imaging from a distance
- Scalable design: Supports large sensor arrays without exponential complexity
Professor Guoan Zheng, University of Connecticut, who led this experimental research, says, “The potential applications for MASI span forensic science, medical diagnostics, industrial inspection, and remote sensing. Most exciting is the scalability – our system grows linearly, unlike traditional optics that become exponentially complex as they increase in size.”
