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, effectivefocal length (EFL) of soft zoom lens (SZL) system can be controlled and altered. According to desired opto-mechanicaldesign, 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 thatzoom effects of the developed SZL system are significantly affected by the shape, thickness and curing parameter ofPDMS soft lens. The SZL system has been verified with the function of zoom ability. Further research works on theintegration of the SZL system with imaging system for mobile devices or robot vision applications.