Variable-focus flexible cylindrical lens based on near-infrared light-driven liquid crystal elastomers.

Area of Science:

• Optics and Photonics
• Materials Science
• Biomedical Engineering

Background:

• Flexible lenses are crucial for advanced optical systems, but achieving wide variable-focus ranges with high image quality remains challenging.
• Light-driven actuation offers a promising non-contact method for dynamic lens control.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and characterize a flexible cylindrical lens actuated by near-infrared (NIR) light.
• To integrate liquid-crystal elastomers (LCEs) with a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)-based lens for tunable focusing.
• To evaluate the focusing performance and imaging capabilities of the light-driven lens system.

Main Methods:

• Theoretical calculations and simulation modeling were used for initial lens design.
• Fabrication of the flexible cylindrical lens was performed using thermoforming and mold injection of PDMS.
• The lens was integrated with NIR-light-driven LCEs to achieve variable focus.

Main Results:

• The flexible cylindrical lens exhibited a variable-focus distance of 51.3 mm under a 3 mm single-sided stretch.
• An imaging system using the lens achieved a 31.2 mm variable-focus range with high resolution (MTF > 57.61 lp/mm).
• The NIR-light-driven LCE integration enabled a non-contact variable-focus range of 10.35 mm within 25 seconds.

Conclusions:

• NIR-light-driven LCEs can effectively actuate flexible cylindrical lenses for variable focusing.
• The developed lens system demonstrates high-quality imaging with a significant variable-focus capability.
• This technology provides a new approach for developing advanced optical variable-focus devices.