Large aperture adaptive doublet polymer lens for imaging applications

We report a full design process—finite element modeling, fabrication, and characterization—of adaptive doublet polymer lenses. A first-order model was developed and used to design fluidic doublets, analogous to their glass counterparts. Two constant-volume fluidic chambers were enclosed by three flexible membranes, resulting in a variable focal length doublet with a clear aperture of 19.0 mm. Chromatic focal shift was then used to compare numerical modeling to experimentally measured results over a positive focal length range of 55–200 mm (f/2.89 to f/10.5).