Shells and marine life is made up some beautiful structures. The component for most of the shells is calcium carbonate. Calcium carbonate is not soluble and forms great structures that are stable for a long time even in the marine environment. However looking at the shell makes you imagine Calcium carbonate as a opaque material. Scientists from Max Plank, University of Konstanz and Korea have used a solution of saturated calcium solution, carbon-dioxide and a detergent to create microlens. These micron size beads can be used to make lenses, or even microlens arrays. Microlens arrays are made with a complex and expensive optical process and are used for precision focusing of light, cell phone camera’s, as well as many optical systems.
