The iris in the human eye regulates the amount of incoming light by changing the size of the pupil. Controlling the amount of light is just as important to imaging applications, such as cameras, but these applications require complicated control circuitry and light detection schemes to adjust the amount of incoming light and produce high-quality pictures.

The artificial iris is manufactured from an intelligent, light-controlled polymer material. (Source: Tampere University of Technology)

Researchers from Tampere University of Technology in Finland, have developed a solution for this problem — an artificial iris that functions like the human eye.

The autonomous iris was engineered in collaboration with scientists from the University of Warsaw and Wrocław Medical University in Poland. Photoalignment technology that is also used in some mobile phone displays was used to manufacture the device from light-sensitive liquid crystal elastomer.

The center of the iris automatically opens and closes according to the amount of light that hits it, without the need for power sources or external light detection systems.

The device is being modified to operate in an aqueous environment and to boost sensitivity, so that it responds to smaller changes in the amount of incoming light. The researchers hope to eventually have the system used in the treatment of iris defects.