The headline is accurate (unless hacker-news had one that has one that has now been edited away).
If you had read the article you would know precisely what wavelengths the device is applicable to (3rd paragraph even), and why it's an exciting research development.
That chart is misleading. The use of the "visible spectrum" to illustrate gradations of "delta" in the IR band is redundant. A luminosity scale, in grey or monotone (say red?) would be more appropriate from a visual design perspective. No?
The flat lens eliminates optical aberrations such as the “fish-eye” effect that results from conventional wide-angle lenses.
Surely you wouldn't claim that is referring to wide-angle thermal lenses?
“In the future we can potentially replace all the bulk components in the majority of optical systems with just flat surfaces,” says lead author Francesco Aieta, a visiting graduate student from the Università Politecnica delle Marche in Italy. “It certainly captures the imagination.”
Oh yes it does. If you help the imagination along with misleading phrasing, that is. If you don't believe me, just read the rest of the comments here, most of them expecting to see some application in photography.
If you get good glass it'll beat the resolution/noisiness of your sensor anyway. Distortion and aberration can be fixed in software quite well; it sure beats waiting that won't come for a long, long time, if even ever.
Don't get me wrong, this is cool for what it actually applies to, but flirting with "capturing the imagination" in such ways gets no respect from me.
