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It is important to note that even in the later case the pressure
in the reservoir was maintained below the maximum
possible in order to avoid damaging the lens. Fig.7 shows
how the laser spot moves on the screen as the pressure in
the liquid reservoir is increased above the atmospheric
pressure.
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)
Fig. 7. The laser spot movement on the screen as the pressure in the
liquid reservoir is increased from atmospheric (a) to the maximum pressure
(f) sustained via the micro-pump. The incident laser beam is parallel to the
optical axis of the lens but is fired 8mm from the center of the lens.
IV. CONCLUSIONS
We have demonstrated the fabrication and
characterization of a large area adaptive fluid-lens. The
fabrication process is extremely simple as no nanofabrication
techniques are required. The focal-length range
of the adaptive lens varies from infinity to 0.565m
depending on the pressure within its fluid reservoir. Such
adaptive lenses can find use in ophthalmic optics (digital
eye-glasses for example), astronomical optics (because the
gravity will not affect the membrane-curvature of the lens)
or telecoms applications (beam steering and fiber to fiber
connections). In future, the fabrication steps could be easily
enhanced and the reliability of some aspects have to be
investigated like delaminating between layers, the possible
evolution of the mechanical properties of PDMS and the
tightness of the structure because the PDMS is known to be
porous.
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