Double-coil driving electrowetting liquid lens with dual-cavity structure

Area of Science:

• Optics and Photonics
• Microfluidics
• Materials Science

Background:

• Electrowetting liquid lenses offer tunable optical properties.
• Achieving wide focal length ranges and high resolution remains a challenge.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and characterize a dual-cavity electrowetting liquid lens with enhanced zoom capabilities.
• To investigate the combined effects of electrowetting and microfluidics on liquid interface morphology.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of a dual-cavity lens with a 5 mm aperture.
• Utilizing electrowetting on dielectrics (EWOD) to induce microfluidic flow.
• Incorporating a pinning ring to control liquid-liquid interface deformation.

Main Results:

• Achieved a focal length variation range of (-∞, -31 mm] ∪ [42 mm, +∞).
• Demonstrated object-space resolution of 50.80 lp/mm and image-space resolution of 37.63 lp/mm.
• Observed a response time of approximately 100 ms with applied voltages from 0-120 Vrms.

Conclusions:

• The dual-cavity design effectively enables optical zoom through controlled microfluidic manipulation.
• The fabricated lens exhibits promising performance for applications requiring tunable optics and high resolution.