Real-time monitoring of adaptive lenses with high tuning range and multiple degrees of freedom

Abstract

Adaptive lenses offer fast and flexible scans without mechanical movement. However, driving the lens to achieve the desired behavior is challenging and requires online monitoring. The demand for monitoring techniques can be high when lenses with large tuning ranges or multiple degrees of freedom are employed. We analyze the performance of a partitioned aperture wavefront (PAW) as a tool for in situ and in-process monitoring of adaptive lenses. PAW has the advantage of enabling measurements of large input wavefront angles and thus high-tuning-range lenses with just a single beam path. PAW is used to characterize an adaptive lens with a high tuning range of ± 20 d p t and for controlling the behavior of a novel adaptive lens with two actuators that allow for the tuning of focal length and spherical aberrations simultaneously.