Design and characteristics of a Maxwell force-driven liquid lens

Varifocal lenses (especially large-aperture lenses), which are formed by two immiscible liquids based on electrowetting and dielectrophoretic effects, are usually modulated by an external high-voltage power source, with respect to the volume of the liquid. Hence, a Maxwell force-driven liquid lens with large aperture and low threshold voltage is proposed. With the polarization effect, the accumulated negative charges on the surface of the polyvinyl chloride/dibutyl adipate gel near the anode results in the generation of Maxwell force and deformation with cosine wave. The effect of surface roughness on wettability is linear with the cosine of the contact angle, leading to a sharp reduction in the threshold voltage when the volume of liquid is increased. When the volume of the droplet increases to 80 mu l, the threshold voltage is about 10V. Hence, the aperture of polarization effect-driven liquid lenses can potentially reach the centimeter level. Moreover, when Maxwell force increases, the lens ranges from concave to convex lens, which holds great promise in rich application such as those in light-sheet microscopes and virtual reality systems. (C) 2021 Optical Society of America under the terms of the OSA Open Access Publishing Agreement

Automated summary

This study introduces a varifocal liquid lens formed by electrowetting and dielectrophoretic effects, proposing a Maxwell force-driven liquid lens with a large aperture and low threshold voltage. By utilizing the polarization effect to generate Maxwell force, the threshold voltage decreases sharply with an increase in liquid volume, potentially expanding the aperture of the liquid lens to the centimeter level. The lens transitions from concave to convex as Maxwell force increases, showing promise for applications in light-sheet microscopes and virtual reality systems.