Focal length calibration of an electrically tunable lens by digital holography

The electrically tunable lens (ETL) is a novel current-controlled adaptive optical component which can continuously tune its focus in a specific range via changing its surface curvature. To quantitatively characterize its tuning power, here we assume the ETL to be a pure phase object and present a novel calibration method to dynamically measure its wavefront by use of digital holographic microscopy (DHM). The least squares method is then used to fit the radius of curvature of the wavefront. The focal length is obtained by substituting the radius into the Zemax model of the ETL. The behavior curve between the focal length of the ETL and its driven current is drawn, and a quadratic mathematic model is set up to characterize it. To verify our model, an ETL and offset lens combination is proposed and applied to ETL-based transport of intensity equation (TIE) phase retrieval microscopy. The experimental result demonstrates the calibration works well in TIE phase retrieval in comparison with the phase measured by DHM.