Biologically inspired ultrathin arrayed camera for high-contrast and high-resolution imaging

Compound eyes found in insects provide intriguing sources of biological inspiration for miniaturised imaging systems.Here,we report an ultrathin arrayed camera inspired by insect eye structures for high-contrast and super-resolution imaging.The ultrathin camera features micro-optical elements(MOEs),i.e.,inverted microlenses,multilayered pinhole arrays,and gap spacers on an image sensor.The MOE was fabricated by using repeated photolithography and thermal reflow.The fully packaged camera shows a total track length of 740μm and a field-of-view(FOV)of 73°.The experimental results demonstrate that the multilayered pinhole of the MOE allows high-contrast imaging by eliminating the optical crosstalk between microlenses.The integral image reconstructed from array images clearly increases the modulation transfer function(MTF)by~1.57 times compared to that of a single channel image in the ultrathin camera.This ultrathin arrayed camera provides a novel and practical direction for diverse mobile,surveillance or medical applications.