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http://dx.doi.org/10.3807/JOSK.2015.19.1.088

Liquid Crystal Lens Array with Thermally Controllable Focal Length and Electrically Convertible Lens Type  

Heo, Kyong Chan (Department of Physics, Yeungnam University)
Kwon, Jin Hyuk (Department of Physics, Yeungnam University)
Gwag, Jin Seog (Department of Physics, Yeungnam University)
Publication Information
Journal of the Optical Society of Korea / v.19, no.1, 2015 , pp. 88-94 More about this Journal
Abstract
This paper reports the fabrication of a lenticular liquid crystal (LC) lens array with thermally tunable focus and with the function of a convertible lens type, using the surface structure of a UV-curable polymer and a twisted-nematic (TN) LC cell. The TN LC cell makes the LC lenticular lens function as a converging or diverging lens by controlling electrically the polarization of input light. Therefore, the focal lengths for both the converging and diverging lenses, which can be switched from the TN cell, can be tuned by changing the effective refractive index of the LC by Joule heating of the transparent electrode. As a result, the focal length of the lens with the E7 LC was changed continuously from 8.7 to 31.2 mm for the converging lens type and from -9.8 to -14.2 mm for the diverging lens when the temperature was increased from 25 to $56^{\circ}C$.
Keywords
Lenticular lens array; Focal length tuning; Liquid crystal device; Dynamic lens;
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