Traditional optical systems often face a trade-off between speed, focus depth, and resolution. The faster an object moves or the deeper the field of view required, the harder it becomes to maintain sharp, clear imagery across varying focal planes. The TAG Lens upends this limitation. Using acoustic waves to dynamically modulate the refractive index within the lens material, Mitutoyo’s TAG system can rapidly shift the focal length — at rates exceeding hundreds of thousands of cycles per second.

This enables the camera system to scan through multiple focal planes in microseconds, producing a series of sharp, in-focus images across an extended depth range. The result is real-time, all-in-focus visualization, critical for inspecting fast-moving, micro-scale features in fields such as semiconductor inspection, microfluidics, and biomedical research.

Read the full article at Metrology News.