The new chemical iris design developed by researchers based in Germany can greatly reduce the size of camera modules in the smartphones we use today.

Conventionally the kind of camera modules used in today's smartphones have physical blades which move according to the amount of light that needs to be taken in. The blades, hence, either allow the lens to be less or more exposed.

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However, if the new chemical based iris design can be practically used then it would eliminate the need of these blades, and the overall size of the camera module will be reduced.

While the chemical iris design is quite viable, it still needs to be perfected, so that accuracy factor which was high in case of blade based system could be achieved.

The new iris design uses chemical rings which are transparent in natural state, but as current is flown through them then they become opaque. The thickness of these rings is just 55 micrometres, and so they would take very less space for the camera modules.

The chemical rings need only 1.5 Voltage to turn opaque. This kind of fairly low voltage is easily achievable in smartphones. According to the paper, a 1,200 mAh battery could give enough power to the chemical iris to work for as much as 60,000 hours!

"We will now further investigate the potential of optimised electrochromic materials, with a particular focus on improving the optical contrast and, in particular, the control of the depth of focus - this is the decisive hardware parameter which determines the success of next-generation models in the smartphone business." The researchers stated.

TagsSmartphone Camera, Camera Iris Design, new, camera