Tunable compound eye cameras

We present design and realization concepts for thin compound eye cameras with enhanced optical functionality. The systems are based on facets with individually tunable focus lengths and viewing angles for scanning of the object space. The active lens elements are made of aluminum nitride (AlN)/nanocrystalline diamond (NCD) membranes. This material system allows slow thermally actuated elements with a large deformation range as well as fast piezoelectric elements with a smaller deformation range. Due to the extreme mechanical stability of these materials, we are able to realize microoptical components with optimum surface qualities as well as an excellent long-term stability. We use facets of microlenses with 1 mm in diameter and a tunable focusing power to compensate for the focus shift for different viewing angles during the scanning procedure. The beam deflection for scanning is realized either by laterally shifting spherical elements or by a tunable microprism with reduced aberrations. For both actuators we present a design, fabrication concept and first experimental results.

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