Smart lenses with electrically tuneable astigmatism
The holy grail of reconfigurable optics for microscopy, machine vision and other imaging technologies is a compact, in-line, low cost, refractive device that could dynamically tune optical aberrations within a range of about 2–5 wavelengths. This paper presents the first electrically reconfigurable,...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
|---|---|
| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2020
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/142524 |
| _version_ | 1826130093678788608 |
|---|---|
| author | Ghilardi, Michele Boys, Hugh Török, Peter Busfield, James J. C. Carpi, Federico |
| author2 | School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences |
| author_facet | School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences Ghilardi, Michele Boys, Hugh Török, Peter Busfield, James J. C. Carpi, Federico |
| author_sort | Ghilardi, Michele |
| collection | NTU |
| description | The holy grail of reconfigurable optics for microscopy, machine vision and other imaging technologies is a compact, in-line, low cost, refractive device that could dynamically tune optical aberrations within a range of about 2–5 wavelengths. This paper presents the first electrically reconfigurable, fully elastomeric, tuneable optical lenses with motor-less electrical controllability of astigmatism in the visible range. By applying different voltage combinations to thin dielectric elastomer actuator segments surrounding a soft silicone lens, we show that the latter can be electrically deformed either radially or along selectable directions, so as to tune defocus or astigmatism, up to about 3 wavelengths. By mounting the new lenses on a commercial camera, we demonstrate their functionality, showing how electrically reconfiguring their shape can be used to dynamically control directional blurring while taking images of different targets, so as to emphasize directional features having orthogonal spatial orientations. Results suggest that the possibility of electrically controlling aberrations inherent to these smart lenses holds promise to develop highly versatile new components for adaptive optics. |
| first_indexed | 2024-10-01T07:50:53Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | ntu-10356/142524 |
| institution | Nanyang Technological University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-10-01T07:50:53Z |
| publishDate | 2020 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | ntu-10356/1425242023-02-28T19:51:49Z Smart lenses with electrically tuneable astigmatism Ghilardi, Michele Boys, Hugh Török, Peter Busfield, James J. C. Carpi, Federico School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences Science::Physics Materials for Optics Mechanical Engineering The holy grail of reconfigurable optics for microscopy, machine vision and other imaging technologies is a compact, in-line, low cost, refractive device that could dynamically tune optical aberrations within a range of about 2–5 wavelengths. This paper presents the first electrically reconfigurable, fully elastomeric, tuneable optical lenses with motor-less electrical controllability of astigmatism in the visible range. By applying different voltage combinations to thin dielectric elastomer actuator segments surrounding a soft silicone lens, we show that the latter can be electrically deformed either radially or along selectable directions, so as to tune defocus or astigmatism, up to about 3 wavelengths. By mounting the new lenses on a commercial camera, we demonstrate their functionality, showing how electrically reconfiguring their shape can be used to dynamically control directional blurring while taking images of different targets, so as to emphasize directional features having orthogonal spatial orientations. Results suggest that the possibility of electrically controlling aberrations inherent to these smart lenses holds promise to develop highly versatile new components for adaptive optics. Published version 2020-06-23T08:55:28Z 2020-06-23T08:55:28Z 2019 Journal Article Ghilardi, M., Boys, H., Török, P., Busfield, J. J. C., & Carpi, F. (2019). Smart lenses with electrically tuneable astigmatism. Scientific Reports, 9(1), 16127-. doi:10.1038/s41598-019-52168-8 2045-2322 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/142524 10.1038/s41598-019-52168-8 31695061 2-s2.0-85074625641 1 9 en Scientific Reports © 2019 The Author(s). Published by Nature Publishing Group. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. Te images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. application/pdf |
| spellingShingle | Science::Physics Materials for Optics Mechanical Engineering Ghilardi, Michele Boys, Hugh Török, Peter Busfield, James J. C. Carpi, Federico Smart lenses with electrically tuneable astigmatism |
| title | Smart lenses with electrically tuneable astigmatism |
| title_full | Smart lenses with electrically tuneable astigmatism |
| title_fullStr | Smart lenses with electrically tuneable astigmatism |
| title_full_unstemmed | Smart lenses with electrically tuneable astigmatism |
| title_short | Smart lenses with electrically tuneable astigmatism |
| title_sort | smart lenses with electrically tuneable astigmatism |
| topic | Science::Physics Materials for Optics Mechanical Engineering |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/142524 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT ghilardimichele smartlenseswithelectricallytuneableastigmatism AT boyshugh smartlenseswithelectricallytuneableastigmatism AT torokpeter smartlenseswithelectricallytuneableastigmatism AT busfieldjamesjc smartlenseswithelectricallytuneableastigmatism AT carpifederico smartlenseswithelectricallytuneableastigmatism |