Liquid crystal microlens with dual apertures and electrically controlling focus shift

Area of Science:

• Optics and Photonics
• Materials Science

Background:

• Liquid crystal (LC) microlenses are crucial optical components.
• Controlling focal length and beam steering electrically offers advanced functionality.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present a novel liquid crystal microlens with dual apertures.
• To demonstrate electrically controlled beam-steering and focal length adjustment.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication using conventional microelectronic technology.
• Design incorporates two layers of patterned indium-tin oxide (ITO) electrodes with quasi-circular holes of different diameters.
• Electrodes are separated by a thin SiO₂ film and driven by varying electrical voltage amplitudes.

Main Results:

• The LC microlens converges incident light.
• Electrical control allows focal position adjustment along the optical axis and perpendicular to it.
• Demonstrated dual-aperture functionality with electrically tunable optical properties.

Conclusions:

• The novel LC microlens design provides versatile optical control.
• Its ability to adjust focal length and beam steering electrically makes it suitable for applications requiring variable fields of view and optical apertures.