Electrically tunable lens with a non-monotonic wavefront control capability

We describe an electrically tunable liquid crystal lens that can produce a rich variety of wavefronts, including sombrero-type (non-monotonic) phase modulation, enabling the focusing of light into a ring-shaped intensity distribution. The lens can also generate axicons or standard spherical lenses with a bipolar response (providing both positive and negative optical powers). The design of the lens requires only a single-step lithography process, dramatically simplifying its manufacturing. We describe various driving modes of this lens and present the first experimental results and discuss its possible applications in miniature cameras and microscopes. We think that this device can revolutionize the optical design in many areas of photonics. (c) 2022 Optica Publishing Group

Automated summary

This electrically tunable liquid crystal lens can generate a variety of wavefronts and has a simplified manufacturing process and multiple driving modes, making it promising for revolutionary applications in fields such as miniature cameras and microscopes.