2014
Scientific Breakthrough Transforms Smartphones Into Cancer-Detecting Microscopes (May 2014)
“Smartphones have emerged as a tool not just for selfies and communicating on the go, but also for science. Australian Researchers recently invented a new kind of lens that transforms a smartphone camera into a microscope that's detailed enough to diagnose skin cancer.”
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2014 Royal Society NSW Lecture Series
Steve has been invited to speak at Royal Society NSW evening lectures
2014 ANSTO Eureka Prize for Innovative Use of Technology
Winner: DIY Droplet Lens, Garvan Institute of Medical Research and Australian National University
"Droplet team" - Avinash, Rachel, David, (Kenny missing) were invited to the launch of the new
Australian scientists have invented a simple and cheap way of making a high-powered lens that can transform a smart phone into a highresolution microscope. Costing less than a cent, the lenses promise a revolution in science and medicine in developing countries and remote areas
Droplet lens - Top Download May 2014
Existing methods for low cost lenses using parallel mold stamping and high temperature reflow requires complex engineering controls to produce high quality lenses. These manufacturing techniques rely on expensive equipment. In this paper, we propose a low cost (< $ 0.01 per pc) flexible moldless lens fabrication method based on curing a hanging transparent polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) elastomer droplet on a curved substrate. Additional deposition of hanging droplets in the same manner led to a substantial increase in the lens curvature and concomitant decrease in the focal length of the PDMS lenses down to ~2 mm. The shortest focal length lenses were shown to collimate light from a bare light emitting diode (LED) and image microscopic structures down to around 4 µm with 160x magnification. Our hanging droplet lens fabrication technique heralds a new paradigm in the manufacture of low cost, high performance optical lenses for the masses. Using these lenses, we were able to transform an ordinary commercial smartphone camera into a low-cost digital dermascope (60x magnification) that can readily visualize microscopic structures on skin such as sweat pores.
© 2014 Optical Society of America
Selected for publication in Virtual Journal for Biomedical Optics (VJBO)
Shaping self-imaging bottle beams with modified quasi-Bessel beams," has been selected by the Editors, Andrew Dunn and Anthony Durkin, for publication in the most recent issue of the Virtual Journal for Biomedical Optics (VJBO), which is a special feature of OSA's Optics InfoBase, http://vjbo.osa.org/virtual_issue.cfm
The Imaging CoE is all about developing and using innovative microscopy and imaging techniques to observe the details of how immune systems function at the molecular level.
Biomedical Optics Express Publication
Existing methods for low cost lenses using parallel mold stamping and high temperature reflow requires complex engineering controls to produce high quality lenses. These manufacturing techniques rely on expensive equipment. In this paper, we propose a low cost (< $ 0.01 per pc) flexible moldless lens fabrication method based on curing a hanging transparent polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) elastomer droplet on a curved substrate. Additional deposition of hanging droplets in the same manner led to a substantial increase in the lens curvature and concomitant decrease in the focal length of the PDMS lenses down to ~2 mm. The shortest focal length lenses were shown to collimate light from a bare light emitting diode (LED) and image microscopic structures down to around 4 µm with 160x magnification. Our hanging droplet lens fabrication technique heralds a new paradigm in the manufacture of low cost, high performance optical lenses for the masses. Using these lenses, we were able to transform an ordinary commercial smartphone camera into a low-cost digital dermascope (60x magnification) that can readily visualize microscopic structures on skin such as sweat pores..
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The Australian, Droplet lens turns smartphones into mobile laboratories
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TIme How Researchers Can Turn a Smartphone into a Microscope
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Xinhua, Droplet lens turns smart phones into microscopes: ANU
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Physics World New lens could turn your phone into microscope
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New Scientist.nl Create your own lenses and build your own mobile microscope
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Photonics.com, Simple Lens-Making Method Turns Phones in Dermascopes
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Materials Today Droplet lens turns smart phones into microscopes
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Asian Scientist Bake Your Own Droplet Lens
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Medgadget, New Super Cheap Method for Producing Lenses to Bring Microscopy Everywhere
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GizMag,How do you make a 1-cent microscope lens? Just bake a batch in the oven
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IBtimes 3D-Printed Lens Turns Smartphones Into a £1 Microscope to Detect Diseases
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Time of India A 3-D Printed high powered microscope for $2 or Rs 120
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Crazyengineers Cheap 3D Printed 'Droplet' Lens Turns Smartphone To High-Res Microscope
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the Register Polymer_droplets_create_iphone_microscope_lenses
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Mashable Doctor-pioneers-home-made-droplet-lens-for-microscopic-viewing-on-a-smartphone
Optic Letters Publication
Shaping self-imaging bottle beams with modified quasi-Bessel beams
Coherent generated self-imaging bottle beams, typically formed by interfering two coherent quasi-Bessel beams, possess a periodic array of intensity maxima and minima along their axial direction. In practice, the overall quality of the self-repeating intensity patterns is prone to unresolved large intensity variations. In this Letter, we increased consistency of intensity of self-imaging bottle beams through a spatial frequency optimization routine. By doing so, we increased the effective length of self-imaging bottle beams by 74%. Further, we showed that this approach is applicable to higher-order self-imaging beams that display complex intensity structures. The enhancement in these modified self-imaging beams could play a significant role in optical trapping, imaging, and lithography.
Optic Express Publication
Hollow Bessel-like beam as an optical guide for a stream of microscopic particles
Current aerosol sample injection methods for coherent x-ray morphology suffer from excessive sample consumption due to the dispersion of the aerosol. To remedy this we propose here a high aspect ratio optical funnel by using a hollow Bessel-like beam with variable divergence, which may reduce sample consumption significantly. We present estimated optical forces exerted on the particles in the transverse plane, depending on various experimental conditions. We show that light pressure imposed by a funnel formed with 4.2 W continuous wave laser is sufficient to divert a stream of 2 µm polystyrene particles travelling ~50 m/s by ~1.5 × 10−3 rad.
2013 Higher Education Grant finalists
24 JUN 2013 NEWS RELEASES FINALISTS!!
Award recognizes outstanding undergraduate and graduate optics programs in science, technology, engineering and mathematics at non-profit colleges and universities. Thank you for inspiring optical innovation and good luck!
New collaboration between CECS and JCSMR
20 JUN 2013, NEWS RELEASES JCSMR CECS
Biomedical optics is an exciting interdisciplinary area of study
that merges the field of optical sciences with biological/medical
research. The application of optical technologies to biological
systems has led to a wide range of diagnostic methods and
therapeutic applications in both research and clinical settings.
Dr Steve Lee, a biomedical optics researcher from the ANU
Research School of Engineering will be working in collaboration
with researchers in cancer, immunology and infectious diseases
and the Microscopy and Cytometry Resource Facility at The John Curtin School of Medical Research to develop new minimally invasive imaging tools. In the first of a number of projects, he and his students will design and build a video rate laser scanning two photon micro-endoscope imaging system that will be used to capture very fast live events that occur at a cellular level within a living animal. Dr Lee will also continue with investigating other areas in light-tissue interactions (e.g. laser surgery, tissue optical clearing).
