Precise Optical Sensor Inspired by Mantis Shrimp Eyes

Innovation: Academia

North Carolina State University

2021

Image: CremboC / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY SA - Creative Commons Attribution + ShareAlike

Sense Light (Visible Spectrum) From the Environment

Living systems constantly receive signals from their environment that help them survive. Light (in the visible spectrum) can come from other living systems (such as fireflies) or from non-living sources (such as the sun). Survival often depends on sensing and responding to challenges like low light conditions or light that has been altered in some way. Because basic survival is at stake, living systems must excel at meeting those challenges. A well-known phenomenon is how water bends light. A stork trying to catch a fish underwater can compensate for this bending effect so that when it strikes at the fish, it has a good chance of catching it.

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Sense Light (Non-visible Spectrum) From the Environment

Living systems interact with each other and with their environments to gain information. Sometimes that information is in the electromagnetic spectrum. Wavelengths in the electromagnetic spectrum are also called the non-visible spectrum, because humans can’t detect them with the naked eye. These include ultraviolet (UV) light, infrared (IR) light, radio waves, and other wavelengths. Detecting within these spectra requires strategies beyond those used for visible light, so many living systems that depend on these signals have specialized organs to do so. For example, beetles that feed on burned trees have sensory organs that detect infrared radiation emitted by fires, enabling them to quickly locate a burned area.

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Optical sensor from North Carolina State University uses a combination of hyperspectral and polarimetric imaging to accurately detect a broad spectrum of light.

Benefits

Increased light capture
Increased accuracy

Applications

Cameras
Surveillance
Medical imaging

UN Sustainable Development Goals Addressed

Goal 9: Industry Innovation & Infrastructure

The Challenge

Typical cameras are unable to capture the many different types of light that researchers need for scientific image analysis, including hyperspectral imaging and polarimetry. Hyperspectral imaging allows computer software to divide visible wavelengths of light into different, more narrow bands. Polarimetry is the measurement of polarization in light, which can be used to determine the surface geometry (such as rough or smooth) of an object in an image. Phone cameras and digital cameras work well for capturing a photo with many colors and dimensions, but do not accurately capture all the different wavelengths of light. To capture this additional information, bulky components need to be added, making the camera less portable.

Innovation Details

The researchers mimicked the eyes of the mantis shrimp to create a new optical sensor called SIMPOL (Stomatopod Inspired Multispectral and POLarization). Mantis shrimp eyes are some of the most astounding in the animal kingdom, with 16 photoreceptors that can distinguish between several different types of light, including UV and polarized light. SIMPOL uses a combination of hyperspectral and polarimetric imaging to measure four color channels and three polarization channels at one point. To do this it uses stacking polarization-sensitive organic photovoltaics (P-OPVs) and retarders. The P-OPVs have an anisotropic (multidirectional) response and the retarders’ disperse the light signals. Altogether the optical sensor is ten times more precise than a typical sensor.

Biological Model

The eyes of the mantis shrimp contain 16 photoreceptors (compared to four in humans) that are able to detect several different types of light, including UV and polarized light, simultaneously. Mantis shrimps can also detect six different types of polarized light, including horizontal, vertical, two diagonal types, and two types of circular polarization.

References

Journal article

Mantis shrimp–inspired organic photodetector for simultaneous hyperspectral and polarimetric imaging

Science Advances

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