Flexible meniscus/biconvex lens system with fluidic-controlled tunable-focus applications.

Controlled injection of fluid into a flexible lens chamber has previously produced tunable spherical lenses with spherical aberration problems. This paper presents a novel fluidic-controlled meniscus/biconvex lens system with relatively low distortion. The lens fabrication method is described and manufactured lenses are characterized for different processing parameters. Images captured through one of our lenses for a range of different pressures are presented. A change in focal length of five times (19.1-80.8 cm) is demonstrated. The focal length shows a quadratic relation to the applied pressure (0-5 kPa). For the simple prototype lens, distortion is less than 5% and relative illumination is above 0.74 by ZEMAX analysis.