A flexible liquid microlens based on electrowetting

Author

Li, Chenhui ; Jiang, Hongrui

Author_Institution

Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA

fYear

2012

fDate

6-9 Aug. 2012

Firstpage

59

Lastpage

60

Abstract

We report on a flexible liquid microlens actuated by electrowetting mechanism. The microlens structure is made of soft polymer and its substrate is made much thinner than the lens to reduce the stress on the lens when it is stretched on a curved surface. A low-temperature fabrication process is developed to reduce the stress in the polymer. The focal length f can be varied between -14 mm and 33 mm. The lens can resolve 11.30 line pairs per mm at f = 33 mm according to a 1951 USAF resolution chart test and the response time of the lens is approximately 50 ms.

Keywords

flexible structures; low-temperature techniques; micro-optomechanical devices; microfluidics; microlenses; optical fabrication; optical focusing; optical polymers; wetting; USAF resolution chart test; curved surface; electrowetting; flexible liquid microlens; focal length; low-temperature fabrication; response time; soft polymer; Fabrication; Lenses; Liquids; Microoptics; Stress; Substrates; Surface treatment; electrowetting; flexible; liquid microlens;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Optical MEMS and Nanophotonics (OMN), 2012 International Conference on

Conference_Location

Banff, AB

ISSN

2160-5033

Print_ISBN

978-1-4577-1511-2

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/OMEMS.2012.6318801

Filename

6318801