Optical properties of poly(vinyl chloride)‐gel‐based microlens arrays

Zhou, Zuowei; Ren, Hongwen

doi:10.1002/app.47407

Cited by 8 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…The idea of making variable focal length lens with tunable aberrations has inspired more researchers. [122][123][124] The interface shape of the lens is closely related to the shape of its electrodes. By creating different shapes of electrodes and applying diverse voltage signals, the types of aberrations that can be controlled are extended from a single spherical aberration to image dispersion, field curvature, and even theoretically.…”

Section: Liquid Lens Actuated By Electrostatic Forcementioning

confidence: 99%

Tunable Liquid Lenses: Emerging Technologies and Future Perspectives

Liu,

Zheng,

Yuan

et al. 2023

Laser & Photonics Reviews

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Tunable liquid lenses with controllable focal length attract much attention from many researchers due to the unique advantages of strong adjustability, low power consumption, fast response time, and easy integration. In the last two decades, tunable liquid lenses have already been applied in machine vision, code scanner cameras, cellphone cameras, webcams, microscopes, mini projectors, AR/VR displays, 3D displays, and so on. There is no doubt that the tunable liquid lenses play an increasingly more important role in the field of optical technology. In this review, the research background and significance of the tunable liquid lenses are introduced. Tunable liquid lenses are systematically qualified according to the driving mechanism, and their current status and latest progress are presented in detail. The existing problems, directions for future research, and current and potential applications of the tunable liquid lenses are also discussed.

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Section: Liquid Lens Actuated By Electrostatic Forcementioning

confidence: 99%

Tunable Liquid Lenses: Emerging Technologies and Future Perspectives

Liu,

Zheng,

Yuan

et al. 2023

Laser & Photonics Reviews

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show abstract

“…Several approaches of fabricating PVC gel MLAs have been demonstrated. The most common method is coating a PVC gel membrane on a glass substrate with patterned electrodes, [27][28][29][30] the formed membrane is flat and has no lens effect when no voltage is applied. Another method is using a polymeric cavity array to compress a PVC gel membrane, 31 the formed PVC gel micro-droplet on each cavity can be deformed by the applied electric field between the cavity and bottom substrate, but the operating voltage is still high (>200 V) due to the large electrode gap.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tunable focus poly(vinyl chloride) gel microlens Array fabricated by shaping in patterned electric field

Zhou,

Liu,

2023

J of Applied Polymer Sci

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In this work, we demonstrate a poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC)‐gel‐based microlens array (MLA) with tunable focus. The MLA is fabricated using a PVC solution and a glass substrate with a ring‐array‐patterned electrode. By coating the solution on the substrate and applying a direct current (DC) voltage to the electrode, a PVC gel membrane with a convex surface profile on the inner region of the electrode (anode) is formed with the solvent evaporation. After the complete evaporation of the solvent and removing the voltage, the solidified PVC gel membrane exhibits an MLA character. When an inverse DC voltage is applied to the electrode, the PVC gel accumulated on the inner region will shift toward the outer electrode connected to the anode, leading the curvature of the convex surface to decrease and the focal length to increase accordingly. The variable surface profile with voltage is precisely measured by a laser confocal microscope and the result shows that the focal length of the MLA can be tuned within a large range.

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“…The second varifocal lens system mainly consists of PVC gel that realizes the focal length change by adjusting the applied voltages. The PVC gel exhibits the unique behavior that it creeps along the anode surface under a voltage [24][25][26]. The excitation voltage of PVC gel is an order of magnitude less than that of DE elastomer.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An entirely soft varifocal lens based on an electro-hydraulic actuator

Cheng

Meng

et al. 2020

Smart Mater. Struct.

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Varifocal lenses have been promptly developed but show many shortcomings in the area of artificial pupils, such as rigid frames, prestress and large structures. This paper presents an entirely soft varifocal lens to adapt to the increasingly ingenious soft robotic structures. Such a varifocal lens is mainly composed of a PDMS frame, a liquid dielectric and a pair of flexible electrodes. The stable focal length of the lens varies from 533.5 to 49.4 mm by applying DC voltages from 3 to 12 kV. Surprisingly, a novel 'jump' phenomenon is found in the varifocal lens at the moment of power-on. Then, the varifocal effects are studied under alternating voltages with a square wave, a triangle wave or a sine wave. The varifocal range remains basically stable after repeated cycles under alternating voltages. As the frequency increases, the range of the focal length change also gradually decreases and becomes more stable. As a result, the stable focal length of the lens is able to vary as wide as from 690.3 to 24.5 mm by applying square waveform voltages from 1 to 8 kV at a frequency of 10 Hz. The proposed lens is simple, thin and flexible, which is expected to develop the artificial eyes of soft robots.

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Optical properties of poly(vinyl chloride)‐gel‐based microlens arrays

Cited by 8 publications

References 27 publications

Tunable Liquid Lenses: Emerging Technologies and Future Perspectives

Tunable Liquid Lenses: Emerging Technologies and Future Perspectives

Tunable focus poly(vinyl chloride) gel microlens Array fabricated by shaping in patterned electric field

An entirely soft varifocal lens based on an electro-hydraulic actuator

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