Nonmechanical zoom system through pressure-controlled tunable fluidic lenses

Abstract

We have developed a variable-power zoom system that incorporates fluidic lenses and has no moving parts. The designed system applies two single-chamber plano-convex fluid singlets, each with their own distinct design, as well as a conventional refractive lens. In this paper, we combine the two fluid elements to form a variable-power telescope, while the fixed lens enables image formation. In this configuration, the image plane location is fixed. By synchronizing the powers of the two fluidic lenses, we produce a varying magnification zoom system. The design of each lens and the coupled system is analyzed. The coupled device experimentally produced a magnification range of 0.1× to 10× zoom or a 20× zoom magnification range with no moving parts. Furthermore, we expand on optical performance and capabilities of our system with fluidic lenses relative to traditional zoom lenses.

Bioinspired solid–liquid mixed tunable lens with multilayered structure

“…[12][13][14] The electrowetting tunable lenses make use of two immiscible liquids of different refractive indices, [15][16][17] and control the driving voltage to produce the shape alteration of the interface. For example, the pressure-controlled liquid lenses use liquid as the main optical medium and alter the focal length by controlling the injection of fluid into an elastic chamber.…”

Optical transport and manipulation of an ultracold atomic cloud using focus-tunable lenses

“…It combines a compact arrangement with a static setup. The rapid progress in the development of tunable and adaptive optics now allows one to fabricate high-grade focus-tunable lenses, establishing them in an increasing number of fields of research and industry, such as material processing [16], photography [17], trapped nanoparticles [18] or bioimaging [19]. We use tunable lenses of the type EL-10-30 from the supplier Optotune.…”

Optical axial scanning in confocal microscopy using an electrically tunable lens

“…Although focus tunable lenses have been implemented in nonlinear microscopes [12,14], the use of these lenses for axial scanning in confocal microscopy is more complicated because of the collection pinhole, and therefore, both the illumination and the detection pathways are affected. Beyond nonlinear microscopy, focus tunable lenses have recently been used for three-dimensional optical tweezers [13], three-dimensional light-sheet microscopy with increased scanning speed [15], focus control in wide-field endoscopy [16], and zoom lens design with no moving parts [17].…”