Are there any light-sensitive materials that start off as transparent?

jsmoove · Aug 29, 2020

That are completely transparent before forming an image and becoming fixed.
I know of photosensitive glass...
Others?

-So being able to expose an image into a transparent substance

reddesert · Sep 2, 2020

Wet plate collodion?
I have little experience with alternative process materials but think many of them are clearish solutions that you apply to a substrate (such as paper or glass).

AgX · Sep 2, 2020

Other than photosensitive glass which is exposed under a mask, one can expose standard glass imageforming by focussed high-intensity laser beam resulting in imagewise crystallisation of the otherwise amorphous glass. Quite common today.

jsmoove · Sep 2, 2020

Are you referring to a bubblegram? I wasn't sure what theoretical resolutions were possible, other than most trophy stuff. There's not a lot of info anywhere on the resolutions..I'd be looking to get a custom one:
Definitely would like to use a glass, was wondering if emulsion could somehow be mixed in with glass, or if some transparent light sensentive solution could be solidified, since I'm looking to make an image as part of a lens specifically. (image on a ball lens, from other posts here). I need the image to be on the surface of the ball, as I want the ball to magnify the image.
I was told elsewhere holographic photopolymers are transparent...but that's some complicated stuff and I'm looking for a real simple solution.
I was also told stuff about femtosecond lasers, for micro engraving an image in glass. Also kindof out of reach for a layman like me.

AgX · Sep 2, 2020

Just as a side note: "bubblegram" or Vitrography for Dummies: https://www.wdrmaus.de/filme/sachgeschichten/glasinnengravur.php5

jsmoove · Sep 2, 2020

That is a pretty great quality/resolution! Wish I knew what they were saying, but this is at least one of the more visually informing videos I've seen of how its done. I wonder, is it difficult to make the image close to the surface itself? I'm not sure how to navigate the site to find out where they are created

AgX · Sep 2, 2020

Of course instead of a 3D-image, a 2D-image can be printed. And this of course can be more to the surface, the next step then would be laser-engraving of the surface.

The "internal engraving", as I may call it, was invented 50 years ago in the USSR. But then the laser technology was not yet there to speed up things for commercial use. It took 30 years to achieve, this time in Germany. And by now many firms offer such. That video seems quite old, they showed a workshop in Dresden.

jsmoove · Sep 2, 2020

Would that then mean I'd need a 5-axis machine or something of the like, for putting a 2D image on the spherical surface?
Just trying to figure out what route is logically the easiest, and obviously the most cost effective. But also provides the best resolution.
The resolution in the video would be perfectly fine I think, not sure how that compares to say, a photographic negative....but I think it'd be alright.

AgX · Sep 2, 2020

jsmoove said:
Would that then mean I'd need a 5-axis machine or something of the like, for putting a 2D image on the spherical surface?

Yes, laser engrave the rear surface of your spherical surface (transparent ball) by means of a laser rotating around that sphere.
Otherwise another laser induced imaging process.

The question in your case is whether the engraving yields the contrast necessary for your application.
I doubt so.

I understand that your image will be deliberately changed. That alone (more so on a spherical surface) calls for a digital approach.

AgX · Sep 2, 2020

In your other posts you inquired about bi-convex micro lenses (Stanhope type), a glass ball, attachment lenses of the spherical (dome) type for phones. This all hints at the necessary resolution and contrast of the image on that optical element.

jsmoove · Sep 15, 2020

Yes. One other question I have regarding putting a Bubblegram in a glass ball, would this at all affect the ability of the ball to start a fire when exposed to the sun? Or would the Bubblegram redirect/scatter the light? Or would the light still just blast through? Just thinking about fire hazards with ball lenses...and lenses in general.

AgX · Sep 15, 2020

-) it depends on the degree of light scattering and its image distorsion. But in such a case as you intend I assume to be still unaffected outer areas. These thus still can form an image. This being overlayed by stray light, will not dimish its heating effect, in contrast to its imaging effect.

-) the problem with such ball lens is that, in contrast to reading glasses, it acts in all directions and that its focal point likely is near to its surrounding.

jsmoove · Sep 15, 2020

Thanks. Was looking at something like: https://imgur.com/a/Lj6qIri
If the bubblegram was dense and filled the entire sphere....you're saying likely it wouldn't make a difference for the heating effect.

AgX · Sep 15, 2020

If the distorsion filled the whole glass sphere it likely would make a difference.

jsmoove · Sep 15, 2020

Another question..kindof way off the original question...oh well, im reading: https://sites.google.com/site/frcrphysicsnotes/mr-image-quality
Does adding a supplemental lens (in this case to a phone) increase the resolving power of the phone, or does it remain constant?
What I mean is, if I have the same image to fill my field of view, one physically larger, and one shrunk down...yet I use a supplemental lens to image the shrunken image so that it fills the field of view. Which image has the better resolution in the end? Is there a difference?

One example would be, you have a 8x11 page of text. You capture it in full edge to edge.
Then you put the same 8x11 page of text, but on microfiche, and you capture it edge to edge with a microscope.
So the image captured ends up being the same size, but the methods of capturing it are different, so what differences are there noticeably between the end images.

I also see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_resolution from a previous thread

I get the feeling that the further you are able to zoom in on an image and still get clear details , the more data you are able to capture. So does adding a supplemental lens change the amount of megapixels the phones sensor can resolve?
I guess thats what it comes down to.

jsmoove · Sep 15, 2020

Tldr, More or less, does adding a supplemental lens to a phone change the amount of information you are able to resolve?

alanrockwood · Sep 15, 2020

If a medium is truly transparent it won't absorb any photons. Hence photons pass right through and leave the medium unaltered. It's as if it were never exposed to light. Hence, there is no way for an image to be recorded on the medium, whether latent or direct.

jsmoove · Sep 15, 2020

I answered my own question over yonder: https://physics.stackexchange.com/q...achment-to-a-phone-increase-the-megapixels-it

A bubblegram looks like it would be visible, at least by looking at pictures online. The overall resolution though is probably pretty terrible

jsmoove · Sep 16, 2020

Perhaps a brain fart.....but what I think I am needing to know is, how is the resolving power of a supplementary lens calculated?
If I add a lens attachment to a smartphone, does it change the resolving power?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resolving_power

."The greater the resolving power, the smaller the minimum distance between two lines or points that can still be distinguished. The larger the N.A., the higher the resolving power."
& "The higher the numerical aperture of the total system, the better the resolution."

AgX · Sep 17, 2020

alanrockwood said:
If a medium is truly transparent it won't absorb any photons. Hence photons pass right through and leave the medium unaltered. It's as if it were never exposed to light. Hence, there is no way for an image to be recorded on the medium, whether latent or direct.

The question then is, what "truly transparent" means. A block of glass as seen in that video would be commonly regarded as transparent, but still it absorbs in the focal point of a laser beam enough energy to undergo structural change.

alanrockwood · Sep 17, 2020

AgX said:
The question then is, what "truly transparent" means. A block of glass as seen in that video would be commonly regarded as transparent, but still it absorbs in the focal point of a laser beam enough energy to undergo structural change.

True.

Are there any light-sensitive materials that start off as transparent?

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