Speed, optical power, and off-axis imaging improvement of refractive liquid crystal lenses.

Two design approaches (multicell and addition of phase resets in single cell) are introduced to optimize the performances of tunable refractive liquid crystal lenses, including improvements on the switching speed, optical power, and the off-axis, wide-angle imaging performance. Key parameters and advantages for each method are discussed, and their effects on the performance are demonstrated in detail with numerical calculations.

Near-diffraction-limited and low-haze electro-optical tunable liquid crystal lens with floating electrodes.

A near-diffraction-limited, low-haze and tunable liquid crystal (LC) lens is presented. Building on an understanding of the key factors that have limited the performance of lenses based on liquid crystals, we show a simple design whose optical quality is similar to a high quality glass lens. It uses 'floating' electrodes to provide a smooth, controllable applied potential profile across the aperture to manage the phase profile.

Surface localized polymer aligned liquid crystal lens.

The surface localized polymer alignment (SLPA) method allows complete control of the polar pretilt angle as a function of position in liquid crystal devices. In this work, a liquid crystal (LC) cylindrical lens is fabricated by the SLPA method. The focal length of the LC lens is set by the polymerization conditions, and can be varied by a non-segmented electrode.

Physical limitations and fundamental factors affecting performance of liquid crystal tunable lenses with concentric electrode rings.

A comprehensive analysis of fundamental factors and their effects on the performance of liquid crystal (LC)-based lenses is given. The analysis adopts numerical LC director and electric field simulation, as well as scalar diffraction theory for calculating the lens performance considering different variable factors. A high-efficiency LC lens with concentric electrode rings is fabricated for verifying and enriching the analysis.

Validation of a Hartmann-Moiré wavefront sensor with large dynamic range.

Unlabelled: Our goal was to validate the accuracy, repeatability, sensitivity, and dynamic range of a Hartmann-Moiré (HM) wavefront sensor (PixelOptics, Inc.) designed for ophthalmic applications.

Methods: Testing apparatus injected a 4 mm diameter monochromatic (532 nm) beam of light into the wavefront sensor for measurement.

Astigmatic refraction using peaks of the interferogram Fourier transform for a Talbot Moiré interferometer.

Purpose: To calculate the spectacle correction from a Talbot Moiré wavefront sensor using the location of peaks in the Fourier transform of the interferogram image.

Methods: A relationship was developed between the spectacle correction for an ocular wavefront and the location of Fourier transform peaks in the aberrated interferogram. These spectral peaks were located to sub-pixel accuracy using a two-dimensional polynomial fit.