Introduction to Adaptive Lenses

Ren, Hongwen; Wu, Shin‐Tson

doi:10.1002/9781118270080

Cited by 120 publications

(99 citation statements)

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“…The LC lens in this paper still requires high applied voltages. This can be solved by using many other structures of LC lens operated with a driving voltage below 10 V rms [10,21]. Moreover, the optical efficiency can be enhanced by using polarization independent LC phase modulator, including double layered type, residual phase type or mixed type [17,20,[22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30].…”

Section: Experiments and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A conventional lens coupler usually consists of lenses with a fixed focal length. Tunable focusing properties of liquid lenses with an electrically adjusting curved membrane or interface can be used for fiber coupling or waveguide coupling [9,10]. However, Fresnel reflection from the interface between two fluids, the thickness of the liquid lens, the gravity issue, and the difficulty of encapsulation still limit their applications.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, Fresnel reflection from the interface between two fluids, the thickness of the liquid lens, the gravity issue, and the difficulty of encapsulation still limit their applications. Up to now, the literatures only discussed the function of the lens coupler by using a tunable focusing liquid lens in a fiber system [9,10].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The lensing effect of the LC phase modulators is caused by the inhomogeneous spatial phase distribution originated from the inhomogeneous orientation distribution of the LC molecules, which can be controlled by the applied electric fields. The focal length of such a LC phase modulator or LC lens can be tunable as a positive lens or a negative lens depending on the electric fields [10,11]. LC lenses have various applications including image systems [12], pico-projector systems [13], optical zoom systems [14], concentrated photovoltaic systems [15], holographic systems [16], and ophthalmic lens [17].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Similarly, LC lens provides a negative lens power when V 1 <V 2 , as shown in Figure 1b. As long as the aperture size (D) and the thickness (d LC ) of LC layer are fixed, the refractive indices difference (Δn) between the center and the peripheral region can decides the lens power of the LC lens (P LC ), which can be written in the form of [10]:…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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An Electrically Tunable Liquid Crystal Lens for Fiber Coupling and Variable Optical Attenuation

Lin¹

2014

J Elec Electron Syst

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In this paper, an electrically tunable LC lens for fiber coupling and variable optical attenuation is proposed and demonstrated. The LC lens electrically changes the lens power in order to adjust the beam size incident on the fiber. When the beam size is closed to the core size of the fiber, the LC lens is operated as a lens coupler. When the beam size increases by reducing the lens power, the LC lens is operated as a VOA. After introducing the operating principles, we use a LC lens to experimentally demonstrate the design concept and the results show that the maximum coupling efficiency can be 0.75 and the maximum attenuation can be as large as18 dB. The concept proposed in this paper is not only for LC lenses, but also for other optical components with electrically tunable focusing properties. The study provides a new way to design an optical device for fiber coupling and variable optical attenuation based on electrically tunable focusing optical components. Figure 1a and 1b depict a typical structure of the LC lens with positive and negative lens operations. We use the hole-patterned LC lens to demonstrate the concept [11,12]. In fact, the concept we proposed here can be applied to other structures of LC lenses. The components of the LC lens included three Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) glass substrates, two Polyvinyl Alcohol (PVA) layers for LC alignment, an insulating layer (Norland product Inc. NOA81), and a 50 μm nematic LC layer (Merck MLC-2070, Δn=0.2609). In order to generate an inhomogeneous electric field, the ITO layer in the middle of the glass substrate was etched with a hole and connected to an applied Alternating Current (AC) voltage of V 1 . PVA layers were coated on the glass substrates and mechanically rubbed in one direction to align the LC molecules. As a result, the LC molecules are aligned parallel to the glass substrate (x-direction in Figure 1) as V 1 =V 2 =0V rms and provide zero lens power (i.e. inverse of the focal length) for x-linearly polarized light. Mechanism and Operating Principles AbstractAn electrically tunable Liquid Crystal (LC) lens for both of fiber coupling and variable optical attenuation is demonstrated. The LC lens modulates the beam waist coupling to the fiber by electrically changing the lens power. When the modulated beam waist is close to the core size of the fiber, the LC lens is operated as a lens coupler. When the beam waist increases by reducing the lens power, the LC lens is operated as a Variable Optical Attenuator (VOA) as a result of the corresponding coupling coefficient variation of the transformed beam into a multimode fiber. The study provides a way to design an optical device for fiber coupling and variable optical attenuation based on electrically tunable focusing optical component.

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Section: Experiments and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

An Electrically Tunable Liquid Crystal Lens for Fiber Coupling and Variable Optical Attenuation

Lin¹

2014

J Elec Electron Syst

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Three‐Dimensional Displays

Yang

2014

Fundamentals of Liquid Crystal Devices

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Advances in Transparent Planar Optics: Enabling Large Aperture, Ultrathin Lenses

Tabiryan

Roberts

Liao

et al. 2021

Advanced Optical Materials

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Unlike electronics, optics do not follow Moore's law. This statement, expressed by Microsoft's Bernard Kress, refers to the hard challenges to solve in augmented reality hardware. While light sources have undergone numerous revolutions from candles to light emitting diodes, the evolution in transparent optics has been much slower. For transparent materials, variation of the shape, bulk refractive index, and/or its distribution leads to control of the transmitted beam in an optical system. An alternative, the control of the optical axis orientation in an anisotropic material in transparent micrometer‐thin films on a variety of substrates, is explored here. In contrast to metamaterials, these diffractive waveplates have a continuous structure allowing multilayer/multifunctional planar optical systems with close to 100% efficiency across broad bands of wavelengths (ultraviolet to infrared) with customizable spectra. The low‐cost and fast fabrication technology of this fourth generation of optics is scalable to very large aperture sizes. In addition to wearable adaptive optics, the technology enables thin and compact non‐mechanical fast beam steering systems for light detection and ultralight space telescopes. This review will first serve as an introduction to these unique transparent, planar optical films, and then recent advances enabled by specific optical designs will be presented.

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Introduction to Adaptive Lenses

Cited by 120 publications

References 0 publications

An Electrically Tunable Liquid Crystal Lens for Fiber Coupling and Variable Optical Attenuation

An Electrically Tunable Liquid Crystal Lens for Fiber Coupling and Variable Optical Attenuation

Three‐Dimensional Displays

Advances in Transparent Planar Optics: Enabling Large Aperture, Ultrathin Lenses

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