2019年经济学人光的种子(2)（打印版）

In practice, few optical systems other than eyeglasses rely on single lenses.

实际上，除了眼镜，很少有光学系统依赖于单透镜。

Usually, different lenses with different properties are stacked on top of each other to remove aberrations

通常不同性能的不同透镜叠加在一起是为了消除像差

and achieve full-colour wide-angle images. Dr Yu's lenses can be stacked in this way, too.

并实现全色广角图像。虞博士的透镜也可以这样叠加。

By sandwiching three of them together, he has created a triplet that achieves almost all the control of light waves

通过将三个透镜叠加，他创造出了一种三重透镜，几乎可以控制所有的光波

that would be expected of bigger and heavier glass-lens systems.

这是更大更重的玻璃透镜系统的期望。

Besides saving weight and volume, Dr Yu's flat lenses also promise to be cheaper to mass produce than the conventional sort.

除了重量和体积，虞博士还承诺他的平面透镜比批量生产的传统类型更便宜。

Grinding and polishing a glass lens is complex and time-consuming.

眼镜片抛光打磨复杂又耗时。

Flat lenses are made using nanolithographic techniques, which are also employed for making computer chips.

平面透镜使用纳米光刻技术，制作电脑芯片也是用这种技术。

Given these advantages, flat lenses could replace their bulkier counterparts anywhere that cost or weight is an issue

鉴于这些优势，平面透镜可以取代价格或重量都成问题的笨重的同类产品，

—meaning pretty-well everywhere from microscopes and cameras, to pairs of spectacles.

—相当于所有显微镜和照相机以及眼镜都能替代。

Flat lenses still need development before they can truly replace their glass counterparts.

平面透镜在真正替代它们的同类之前还需要进一步发展。

In current designs, only around half of the light falling on a flat lens triplet makes it through to the other side.

在目前的设计中，只有大约一半落在一个平面透镜三联体上的光线能穿透至另一边。

The rest is reflected or absorbed by the material. In a typical glass lens, by contrast, at least 90% of the light passes through.

剩余的都被材料反射或吸收了。相反，在一个传统玻璃镜片中，至少90%的光线都能穿过去。

However, the researchers hope that, by tweaking the shapes and positions of the antennae, they will be able to improve on this.

但研究人员希望，通过调整天线的形状和位置，他们可以改善这一点。

In theory, there is no limit to the size of a lens that could be made using Dr Yu's techniques.

理论上讲，使用虞博士的技术制成的透镜是没有大小限制的。

But there are practical challenges in making ever-larger lenses that would work well in full colour.

但是要制造出在全彩情况下都能正常工作的更大透镜，还面临着一些实际挑战

In particular, the bigger the lens, the more challenging it becomes to design the correct shape and distribution of antennae.

尤其是，透镜越大，设计天线的正确形状和分布就越具有挑战性。

These technical obstacles will no doubt be overcome—and probably quite quickly,

这些技术障碍毫无疑问将被克服—并且可能很快就被克服，

given the interest the project has attracted from America's armed forces.

因为这个项目得到了美国军队的青睐。

Meanwhile, flat lenses for smaller applications are already on course

同时，应用于小型设备的平面透镜已步入正轨

to become the biggest innovation for manipulating rays of light since someone, thousands of years ago,

这将成为继数千年前，某人首次将一块透明晶体磨成豆科种子的形状之后

first ground a piece of transparent crystal into the shape of a leguminous seed.

的一次操纵光线的最大创新。