Finding out that your world is lacking or confusing the same vivid colors as many others can be quite difficult news. But a team of scientists has just developed a way to print a new, ultra-thin material that changes the color of light on a curved surface.
Although the technology still has to go through clinical trials and it has some way to go before it becomes commercially available, developers say this allows for the creation of tiny contact lenses that will give colorblind people the ability to distinguish red from green.
Contact Lenses for Colorblind People Are In Development
At Tel Aviv University in Israel, a team of researchers reports that their contact lenses improve color perception and restore lost color contrast by a factor of ten. The lenses are made for people with “deuteranomaly,” who have problems distinguishing between red and green in particular. Upon closer look at this contact lens, a tiny golden ellipse can be seen, which is used to correct that condition. The researchers hope to expand their new technology and figure out how to treat any type of color blindness.
The Lenses of Tomorrow
The team used ultra-thin optical devices, known as metasurfaces, to create groundbreaking lenses. This new type of customizable lenses will offer a much more convenient and comfortable way for people who experience various forms of color blindness than the bulky glasses that are used today.
Some researchers believe that colorblindness can interrupt simple daily routines, like determining if a fruit is ripe or not. These contact lenses will use the nano-metric size gold ellipse-based metasurfaces to create a durable, compact, and customized way to address the problems of colorblind people.
Coming up with a method to print the metasurfaces on curved surfaces was a truly groundbreaking event. It enables scientists to use the new technology for contact lenses and improve color perception up to a factor of ten. And most importantly, opens the door for much more optical opportunities in the future.