{"id":305908,"date":"2025-07-31T06:26:22","date_gmt":"2025-07-31T06:26:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/305908\/"},"modified":"2025-07-31T06:26:22","modified_gmt":"2025-07-31T06:26:22","slug":"we-are-actually-very-close-to-this-science-fiction-meta-optical-tech-may-soon-enable-projection-glasses-novel-cameras-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/305908\/","title":{"rendered":"“We Are Actually Very Close to This Science Fiction”: Meta-Optical Tech May Soon Enable ‘Projection-Glasses,’ Novel Cameras, and More"},"content":{"rendered":"

Australia\u2019s ARC Centre of Excellence for Transformative Meta-Optical Systems (TMOS) is working to overcome the limitations of present-day optical<\/a> technologies with meta-optical<\/a> systems that manipulate light<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Existing optics enable the communications and imaging<\/a> technologies by employing the unique properties of various materials and shapes to manipulate light<\/a> in different ways. While researchers have uncovered many ways to reflect, refract, and transmit light<\/a>, the previously unsurpassed boundary imposed by present technological barriers is one that the TMOS team, under the leadership of Professor Dragomir Neshev, is now set to cross.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Meta-Optical Systems<\/p>\n

TMOS\u2019s meta-optical systems consist of millions of nanostructures, as varied as their larger cousins, and which similarly allow for generating, manipulating, and detecting light in a range of ways. What makes the system unique is that these new nanostructures enable new interactions with light that are not possible with larger-scale optical systems.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While novel light manipulations are interesting, miniaturization is the practical result at the forefront of TMOS\u2019s work. Among their initial applications for meta-optics technologies are attempts to reduce the size of mobile phone camera lenses, which is a major obstacle to producing thinner smartphones. They also envision their work reducing the cost and difficulty of producing other similar items, such as miniature sensors used in early disease detection.<\/p>\n

\"DragomirDragomir Neshev, seen with a meta-optical system (Image Credit: ARC)
\nRethinking Quantum Communications and More<\/p>\n

While quantum technologies, ranging from computing to communication, offer numerous hopeful potentialities, they have yet to come to fruition due to the real-world limitations of any device operating through quantum means.<\/p>\n

Currently, the practical applications remain elusive, with many experiments relegated to laboratory curiosities and demonstrations of technology. With quantum communications, such systems require a sterile, clean environment and cryogenic cooling to operate, which is infeasible for large-scale use despite the technology\u2019s high degree of information security.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, TMOS researchers claim that meta-optics will enable a reduction in complexity, leading to room-temperature quantum communication systems. Additionally, the team is working to bring their work to wearables, a category that has struggled for more than a decade since the introduction of Google Glass.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody has seen science fiction movies with glasses that project things. I feel like we are actually very close to this science fiction,\u201d said Professor Neshev<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Support for TMOS<\/p>\n

TMOS relies on the contributions of 142 researchers spread between five Australian universities, with additional support from 18 international institutions. Over 100 private companies are also engaged, including some looking to bring augmented reality glasses to market using TMOS\u2019s advances. Neshev believes that remaining grounded in industry partnerships is important as it ensures that their work is relevant to real-world concerns.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019ve seen in the last couple of years is big companies have invested billions of dollars into these technologies,\u201d Neshev said.<\/p>\n

One of those partnerships TMOS has been specifically focused on delivering solutions for is a driver fatigue monitor currently being developed by one of TMOS\u2019s collaborators.<\/p>\n

\t\t <\/p>\n

\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\"Venus\"\t\t\t<\/a>
\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\u201c[The company] came to us and said they need to squeeze all these tiny elements that can detect if the driver is fatigued or not\u2026 and they need to do this with very little space, which they realised quickly is not possible in any conventional way,\u201d Neshev explained.<\/p>\n

Fundamentally, Neshev and his team\u2019s mission continues, although as the old adage goes, part of the enjoyment of it all has been the journey, rather than merely the race to attain working applications for their technology.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m humbled but also very proud to lead this Centre of Excellence,\u201d Neshev said in a statement. \u201dI think everybody in the entire Centre works really well as a body with a joint mission and joint vision to deliver what we have put in our plans, and it\u2019s just a pleasure to lead such a Centre.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI take this as my biggest achievement,\u201d Neshev said.<\/p>\n

Ryan Whalen covers science and technology for The Debrief. He holds an MA in History and a Master of Library and Information Science with a certificate in Data Science. He can be contacted at\u00a0<\/b>ryan@thedebrief.org<\/b><\/a>, and follow him on Twitter <\/b>@mdntwvlf<\/b><\/a>.<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Australia\u2019s ARC Centre of Excellence for Transformative Meta-Optical Systems (TMOS) is working to overcome the limitations of present-day…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":305909,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3845],"tags":[112410,112411,112412,74,29014,70,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-305908","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-physics","8":"tag-australian-research-council","9":"tag-meta-optical-systems","10":"tag-optical-communications","11":"tag-physics","12":"tag-quantum-communication","13":"tag-science","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114946427163708430","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305908","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=305908"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305908\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/305909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=305908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=305908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=305908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}