Panasonic has developed unique "micro colour splitters", which when applied to image sensors, offer bright colour images even under low-light conditions.

The “splitters” separate the light that falls on image sensors by exploiting light's wavelike properties, a statement said.

This development makes colour filters unnecessary by using the micro colour splitters that control the diffraction of light at a microscopic level. Panasonic has achieved approximately double the colour sensitivity in comparison with conventional sensors that use colour filters.

Hitesh Ojha, deputy general manager, Digital Imaging, Panasonic Marketing Middle East and Africa, said: “In Panasonic’s pursuit to offer customers in the region uncompromised picture quality, Panasonic’s latest innovation shows our commitment to delivering the best image quality from our digital imaging devices.”

Image sensors are used in devices like smartphones, digital still cameras and video cameras, as well in security, vehicle parking, office, and healthcare applications - anywhere, in fact, that digital imaging is needed.

Conventional colour image sensors use a Bayer array, in which a red, green, or blue light-transmitting filter is placed above each sensor. These filters block 50 – 70 per cent of the incoming light before it even reaches the sensor.

Progress is being made in increasing the resolution of image sensors used in mobile and other devices by reducing pixel size, but demand for higher-sensitivity cameras is also increasing. Panasonichas developed a new technology that can be applied to existing or future sensors to enable them to capture uniquely vivid colour images.

The developed technology uses colour alignment, which can use light more efficiently, instead of colour filters, and vivid colour photographs can be taken at half the light levels needed by conventional sensors.

Micro colour splitters can replace the colour filters in conventional image sensors, and are not dependent on the type of image sensor (CCD or CMOS) underneath.

Micro colour splitters can be fabricated using inorganic materials and existing semiconductor      fabrication processes, according to a company statement. – TradeArabia News Service