Ultra-lightweight lenses for Earth observation

Flat lenses based on metal-mesh metamaterial structures are being developed in collaboration with University College London.

These lenses can be used to produce a wide-field metamaterial telescope, acting as a technology demonstrator for future satellite Earth observation missions. Such a telescope, combined with Cardiff’s detector array technologies, will remove the need for optical scanning of the ground scene, offer improved optical quality compared with off-axis reflective systems, and represent a significant mass saving over “traditional” lens-based solutions.