China has recently developed an optical chip called "Yuheng", which is as big as a fingernail but can analyze light with real-time precision. It is expected to be tested with the world's largest optical telescope. Professor Fang Lu of Tsinghua University and his team have brought machine vision to an unprecedented level, with applications covering equipment such as drones, robots, medical scanners and telescopes.

The "Nature" journal article stated that Yuheng chips can distinguish color differences with an accuracy of up to one-tenth of a nanometer, and the resolution is about a hundred times that of existing snapshot imaging technology. This breakthrough is based on advances in optics, artificial intelligence and materials science, and successfully overcomes the long-term trade-off between visible and near-infrared imaging resolution and efficiency.

"Science and Technology Daily" reported that the Yuheng chip can record the color characteristics of nearly 10,000 stars per second, which may shorten the mapping time of the Milky Way from thousands of years to less than ten years. The team stated that it is moving from a proof-of-concept prototype to an engineering model for testing with the Canary Large Telescope in the Canary Islands, Spain, for an undetermined time. With a diameter of 10.4 meters, the Canary Large Telescope is the world's largest single-aperture optical telescope, which explores stars, galaxies, dark matter, black holes and other astrophysics.

Chinese team plans to test powerful chip on world’s largest optical telescope in Spain