Adaptive lens using liquid crystal concentration redistribution

An adaptive lens using electrically induced liquid crystal (LC)/monomer concentration redistribution is demonstrated. In the absence of an electric field, the LC/monomer mixture is homogeneously distributed. Application of an inhomogeneous electric field causes the LC molecules to diffuse towards the high field region and the liquid monomer towards the low field region. On the other hand, the LC molecules tend to diffuse from high to low concentration direction in order to balance the concentration change. A gradient LC concentration is thus obtained. Using the gradient LC concentration, we demonstrate a tunable-focus lens. Compared with a conventional LC lens, our lens has advantages in small astigmatism and without light scattering, but its response time is slower. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.