Optical zoom camera module using two poly-dimethylsiloxane deformable mirrors

Miniaturization is an essential trend in the design of portable devices. Motor-driven lens technology is a traditional way to achieve autofocus and optical zoom functions. This approach usually requires considerable space and consumes significant power. Reflective optics is a methodology that not only can fold the optical path, but it has the advantage of low chromatic aberration. In this paper, we use a deformable mirror as a reflecting element in an optical zoom system. For its low Young's modulus and residual stress, we choose polydimethylsiloxane as a deformable membrane that can provide a large stroke. The optical zoom module consists of a pair of micromachined deformable mirrors. The thickness of this module is 10 mm, which enables 2× optical zoom. The smallest effective focal length is 4.7 mm at a full field angle of 52°, and the f-number is 4.4. The largest effective focal length of the module is 9.4 mm, and the f-number is 6.4.