Self-deformable Varifocal Lens Based on Electroactive Gel

There is ongoing uncertainty about the best way to mitigate the complication strategy in the development of varifocal lenses. Many efforts are being focused on the fabrication of adaptive focus lenses by a simple technique. Since the adaptive focus lenses change its curvature in response to the applied voltage; there has been a multitude of research is actively under progress. In this paper, we propose a compliant, highly transparent, and electroactive polymers based self-deformable microlens for smart optical devices. Especially, a non-ionic PVC gel among electroactive polymers was selected to develop self-deformable microlens to avoid the solvent leakage because its actuation mechanism is not based on solvent-drag deformation but on creep deformation in an electric field, unlike ionic gel electrolytes. To make the convex shape on an actuation area of the proposed module, we put a rigid annular electrode on the electroactive PVC gel and apply pressure input by the rigid annular electrode. Later, we measure the focal length variations of the proposed varifocal lens with various thicknesses of electroactive gels. The resulting focal length values, obtained for the proposed module being large enough to use in small and compact optic devices.