Adaptive Liquid Lens by Changing Aperture

A tunable-focus liquid lens using an iris diaphragm is demonstrated. In the central opening area, two immiscible liquids with different refractive indices meet, resulting in a curved shape with a contact angle on the blade surface of the diaphragm. The liquids with a curved shape exhibit a lens character. By changing the aperture of the diaphragm, the shape of the liquid is changed accordingly which, in turn, leads to tunable focal length. Based on this operation approach, the focal length (f) of our lens could be tuned in the range of 13 ≤ f ≤ 105 cm when its aperture is changed from 1.3 to 3.2 mm. At f = 105 cm, the resolution of our lens can resolve over 45 line pairs per millimeter at room temperature. Our liquid lens, by changing aperture size, has the advantages of compact structure, easy operation, large optical power, and multistability.

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