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| kenarman Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 14
Posts: 4517 | Quote: Nareed Again, no. Mirrors don't produce chromatic aberrations, for example. They produce other kinds of aberrations (you can't have everything). You can begin with layers with different refractive indexes, for one thing. That bends the light in a more controlled fashion. You may create crystals within the glass, or between layers of glass, they bend the light in a predictable way. That's why the philosophy of science is relevant. One school of thought is that everything that's not forbidden is possible. Another says everything that's not forbidden is mandatory. The difference is subtle, but profound. School 1 says if, say, flat lenses are not forbidden by the laws of physics, then someone might make them. School two maintains if they are possible, then they must exist somewhere in the universe. Anyway, thinner, flatter lenses have been a thing for, literally, many decades: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fresnel_lens
Fresnel lenses are not flat. We can wait and see how this pans out but from what I have read and seen about them it is a totally new technology that is ground breaking. It hasn't been a looking for investors promotion. "but if you make yourselves sheep, the wolves will eat you." Benjamin Franklin |
