Large diameter electrically tunable lens for ophthalmic distance accommodation.

Electrically tunable liquid crystal lens with 30 mm diameter is presented based on the refractive Fresnel concept. Relatively large optical power variation range (from - 0.74 to +0.

Dynamic beam shaping for LED lighting.

We describe an electrically tunable liquid crystal microlens array with a 65 mm clear aperture that allows the dynamic symmetric broadening of white light without mechanical movements. The fundamental mechanism of broadening is demonstrated to involve a spatial twist of molecular orientation. Continuous variations of the light divergence angle are obtained in a very large dynamic range (from 8° to 50°).

Electrically variable liquid crystal lenses for ophthalmic distance accommodation.

We present the example of a specific design of an electrically tunable liquid crystal lens (TLCL) with floating electrode to analyze experimentally the potential of using TLCLs in intraocular implants. An optimized voltage-frequency driving technique is demonstrated to achieve high optical powers (up to 4 diopters) with very low aberrations (below 0.1μm) for an optical aperture of 3mm.

Optical camera with liquid crystal autofocus lens.

A mobile phone camera with an innovative electrically tunable liquid crystal lens (TLCL) concept is demonstrated. We first report the comparative theoretical and experimental analyses of the performance of a traditional "modal control" TLCL versus a TLCL using a floating (unpowered) transparent electrode (FTE). It is shown that the appropriate choice of voltage and frequency values of the driving electric signal may improve significantly (almost twice) the optical quality of the lens using the FTE.

High optical quality electrically variable liquid crystal lens using an additional floating electrode.

Additional electrical impedance is introduced in a liquid crystal lens by adding a floating (nonconnected) electrode. This enables excellent optical quality in a very simple operation mode (frequency tuning of the lens' optical power at a fixed driving voltage). The comparative analysis of this lens confirms its suitability for mobile imaging applications.