Design and fabrication of soft zoom lens

摘要

With minimization of optical-electronics devices, conventional optical zoom lens component has been explored with liquid lens and soft polymer membranes. This paper introduces a novel zoom lens system with a soft polymer material, Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), its shape and curvature can be controlled by pneumatic pressure. Therefore, effective focal length (EFL) of soft zoom lens (SZL) system can be controlled and altered. According to desired opto-mechanical design, this ZL has been accessed to determine the optical specifications. After the pressure activated from 0 to 0.02MPa, the change of EFL of the SZL system can reach up to 18.77% (33.44mm to 39.717mm). Experimental results show that zoom effects of the developed SZL system are significantly affected by the shape, thickness and curing parameter of PDMS soft lens. The SZL system has been verified with the function of zoom ability. Further research works on the integration of the SZL system with imaging system for mobile devices or robot vision applications.