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Change of Focus for Liquid Crystals

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the scientists-all-charged-up-about-new-discovery dept.

Dylan Knight Rogers writes to tell us PhysicsWeb is reporting that US physicists have discovered a new liquid-crystal lens design that can alter the focus by varying the voltage applied. From the article: "The new lens, which has been built by Shin-Tson Wu and colleagues at the University of Central Florida, allows the focus to be changed in a new way. The device consists of a mixture of liquid-crystal molecules and smaller N-vinylpyrrollidone monomers placed between two glass substrates, each of which is coated with a thin transparent layer of conducting indium tin oxide. They then placed a concave glass lens with a flat base on top of one of the substrates."

10 of 101 comments (clear)

  1. Battery life... by HateBreeder · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Picture it: A camera that could Auto-focus without any moving, mechanical parts.... faster and more energy efficient!

    I wonder what's the percentage of power drained by a typical digital camera just for auto focusing under normal usage.

    --
    Sigs are for the weak.
    1. Re:Battery life... by Volanin · · Score: 4, Informative
      Our lens stretches and contracts to adapt its focal length, and it not clear to me why it's been so difficult to adapt this principle to manmade optical equipment. Anyone got an answer?

      We might be not too far from that.
      Check out these Fluidlenses.
      --
      If I clone myself, can I call it a thread?
      If a girl winks to us, can I call it a race condition?
    2. Re:Battery life... by Dis*abstraction · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Using two lenses with adaptable focus, you'd be able to zoom without needing to change the barrel length, if my understanding is correct. This would simplify the mechanical requirements for variable focus and optical zoom to the point where it would make sense to include both features in consumer electronics.

      Also, there's nothing stopping a professional photographer or cinematographer from putting film behind that felxible lens. Being able to ditch that truck full of heavy glass optics would be a great boon for professionals.

      --
      Bonsai Kitten: TNG
    3. Re:Battery life... by sco08y · · Score: 5, Informative

      A camera that could Auto-focus without any moving, mechanical parts

      I'm not sure if that would work.

      From TFA:

      The only snag with the new device is its long focusing time of about three minutes. This is because the lens is relatively large (9 mm), which means that molecular diffusion across it is slow. However, this should not be problem in micro-sized lenses in which the estimated response time is around 1 second at room temperature.

      I assume they're talking about lens diameter. It might work for smaller cellphone type cameras, though.

  2. Re:Not for monitors just yet by x2A · · Score: 4, Informative

    What would LCD monitors use it for? It's you that focuses your eyes on them, not them that need to focus on you.

    --
    The revolution will not be televised... but it will have a page on Wikipedia
  3. Re:Not for monitors just yet by From+A+Far+Away+Land · · Score: 4, Interesting

    "It's you that focuses your eyes on them, not them that need to focus on you."
    In Soviet Russia, LCDs focus on you?

    Seriously though:
    Would there be no application to use LC Lenses in conjunction with a current LCD monitors to create a screen with depth through the use of lense trickery? I don't know oodles about optics or 3D technology, so maybe I misunderstand how it would work, but it seems to me that these changable lenses might be capable of providing a 3D monitor that doesn't require polarized glasses or some other filter.

    --
    Oh You POS
  4. Great scott! by flobberchops · · Score: 5, Funny

    Great scott! *LCD monacle pops out*

  5. Re:Isn't that an old story? by Volanin · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Are you talking about this or this? ;-)

    --
    If I clone myself, can I call it a thread?
    If a girl winks to us, can I call it a race condition?
  6. Novel invention, novel uses by xkr · · Score: 5, Interesting
    I doubt this system will replace mechanically focusing a camera lens.

    However, this might be used as a way to optimize solar panels as the sun moves across the sky, or to change the field pattern for headlights or taillights to better match current driving conditions.

    --
    I will create a sig when innovation restarts in the U.S.
  7. Augmented Reality by jonnyboy777 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Perhaps this could help us on our way to stereoscopic head mounted displays that don't induce migraines after extended use (slight sarcasm here). Current technology primarily plays with parallax while keeping a fixed although often tunable focal distance, but LCDs with many microlenses could vastly help things. The perceived images would be much more realistic, as well.