Fan Casting Atom in DC Characters

An atomic scientist and genius Ray Palmer was working on a method of reducing objects in size using white dwarf star matter. While he was on a wilderness expedition he became trapped in an underground cave after a collapse in the tunnel. With the threat of death imminent, he improvised an escape. Using a piece of white dwarf star matter he fashioned it into a lens (in some versions the lens is from a set of glasses of the diamond from an engagement ring) which he deduced if focused in the correct way would allow him to shrink to a small size upon entering into the beam of the lens and escape from one of the cave's small openings and seek help.