Abstract
The natural compound eye system has many outstanding properties, such as a more compact size, wider-angle view, better capacity to detect moving objects, and higher sensitivity to light intensity, compared to that of a single-aperture vision system. Thanks to the development of micro- and nano-fabrication techniques, many artificial compound eye imaging systems have been studied and fabricated to inherit fascinating optical features of the natural compound eye. This paper provides a review of artificial compound eye imaging systems. This review begins by introducing the principle of the natural compound eye, and then, the analysis of two types of artificial compound eye systems. We equally present the applications of the artificial compound eye imaging systems. Finally, we suggest our outlooks about the artificial compound eye imaging system.
Highlights
A natural compound eye has ten to tens of thousands of ommatidium spherically arranged on the surface of the eye depending on the insect species, most of which are hexagonal in shape with diameters ranging from 10 um to 140 um [16]
Most artificial compound eye systems based on planar or curved arrays of microlens are integrated with image sensor arrays
We reviewed and analyzed the system design and applications of two types of artificial compound eye using microlens array (MLA) and metasurface-based lens
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. The optical imaging systems mimicking principles of the vertebrate have been extensively and ubiquitously used in many applications, such as mobile phone cameras and digital cameras, because they could achieve a high spatial resolution [4]. This type of imaging system suffers from the restriction of miniaturization and narrow field of view (
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