title: Nonmechanical zoom system through pressure-controlled tunable fluidic lenses.
abstract: We have developed a variable-power zoom system that incorporates fluidic lenses and has no moving parts. The designed system applies two single-chamber plano-convex fluid singlets, each with their own distinct design, as well as a conventional refractive lens. In this paper, we combine the two fluid elements to form a variable-power telescope, while the fixed lens enables image formation. In this configuration, the image plane location is fixed. By synchronizing the powers of the two fluidic lenses, we produce a varying magnification zoom system. The design of each lens and the coupled system is analyzed. The coupled device experimentally produced a magnification range of 0.1× to 10× zoom or a 20× zoom magnification range with no moving parts. Furthermore, we expand on optical performance and capabilities of our system with fluidic lenses relative to traditional zoom lenses.
authors.affiliation: College of Optical Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA. nsavidis@optics.arizona.edu
authors.forename: Nickolaos
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Savidis
authors.forename: Gholam
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Peyman
authors.forename: Nasser
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Peyghambarian
authors.forename: Jim
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Schwiegerling
mesh_terms: D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D005246:Feedback; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000295:instrumentation*; D007909:Lenses; D044085:Microfluidics / Q000295:instrumentation*; D008853:Microscopy / Q000295:instrumentation*; D011312:Pressure; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity