Design and fabrication of a focus-tunable liquid cylindrical lens based on electrowetting

In this study, a focus-tunable liquid cylindrical lens based on electrowetting was designed and fabricated. The cylindrical cavity usually used in common electrowetting zoom spherical lenses was replaced by a 20 mm x 10 mm x 8 mm cuboid cavity, in which the interface of two liquids formed a toroid owing to the electrowetting effect. The proposed liquid cylindrical lens can serve as either a converging or diverging lens with the response time under 110 ms by changing the supplied voltage. The zoom lens we fabricated worked stably under 0-110 V voltage for a long time, guaranteeing that the focal length of the liquid cylindrical lens can range within (-infinity, -148.36 mm) ? (697.21 mm, +infinity). By combining the liquid lens that we designed with a simple fixed cylindrical lens, a cylindrical lens system with an arbitrary focal length suitable for various tasks in beam manipulation can be realized.

Automated summary

In this study, a focus-tunable liquid cylindrical lens based on electrowetting was designed and fabricated. By changing the supplied voltage, the proposed liquid cylindrical lens can serve as both a converging and diverging lens with a fast response time. By combining it with a fixed cylindrical lens, a cylindrical lens system with an arbitrary focal length can be realized.