A fast response and large electrically tunable-focusing imaging system based on switching of two modes of a liquid crystal lens

Abstract

We demonstrated a fast response and large tunable focusing imaging system consisting of a lens module and a liquid crystal (LC) lens based on the switching of two modes of a LC lens: the negative LC lens and positive LC lens. By discarding the conventional operation of a positive LC lens only in the imaging system, large tunable focusing range can be achieve from 300 to 10 cm owning to the phase change between the positive and the negative LC lens; meanwhile, the response time is fast (∼433 ms). The potential applications are autofocused cell phones, and cameras.