Electrically actuated varifocal lens based on liquid-crystal-embedded dielectric metasurfaces
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arXiv
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Preprint |
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2021
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| _version_ | 1866909189853413376 |
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| author | Bosch, Melissa Shcherbakov, Maxim R. Won, Kanghee Lee, Hong-Seok Kim, Young Shvets, Gennady |
| author_facet | Bosch, Melissa Shcherbakov, Maxim R. Won, Kanghee Lee, Hong-Seok Kim, Young Shvets, Gennady |
| contents | Compact varifocal lenses are essential to various imaging and vision technologies. However, existing varifocal elements typically rely on mechanically-actuated systems with limited tuning speeds and scalability. Here, an ultrathin electrically controlled varifocal lens based on a liquid crystal (LC) encapsulated semiconductor metasurface is demonstrated. Enabled by the field-dependent LC anisotropy, applying a voltage bias across the LC cell modifies the local phase response of the silicon meta-atoms, in turn modifying the focal length of the metalens. In a numerical implementation, a voltage-actuated metalens with continuous zoom and up to 20% total focal shift is demonstrated. The concept of LC-based metalens is experimentally verified through the design and fabrication of a bifocal metalens that facilitates high-contrast switching between two discrete focal lengths upon application of a 3.2 V$_{\rm pp}$ voltage bias. Owing to their ultrathin thickness and adaptable design, LC-driven semiconductor metasurfaces open new opportunities for compact varifocal lensing in a diversity of modern imaging applications. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2101_09325 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Electrically actuated varifocal lens based on liquid-crystal-embedded dielectric metasurfaces Bosch, Melissa Shcherbakov, Maxim R. Won, Kanghee Lee, Hong-Seok Kim, Young Shvets, Gennady Optics Applied Physics Compact varifocal lenses are essential to various imaging and vision technologies. However, existing varifocal elements typically rely on mechanically-actuated systems with limited tuning speeds and scalability. Here, an ultrathin electrically controlled varifocal lens based on a liquid crystal (LC) encapsulated semiconductor metasurface is demonstrated. Enabled by the field-dependent LC anisotropy, applying a voltage bias across the LC cell modifies the local phase response of the silicon meta-atoms, in turn modifying the focal length of the metalens. In a numerical implementation, a voltage-actuated metalens with continuous zoom and up to 20% total focal shift is demonstrated. The concept of LC-based metalens is experimentally verified through the design and fabrication of a bifocal metalens that facilitates high-contrast switching between two discrete focal lengths upon application of a 3.2 V$_{\rm pp}$ voltage bias. Owing to their ultrathin thickness and adaptable design, LC-driven semiconductor metasurfaces open new opportunities for compact varifocal lensing in a diversity of modern imaging applications. |
| title | Electrically actuated varifocal lens based on liquid-crystal-embedded dielectric metasurfaces |
| topic | Optics Applied Physics |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2101.09325 |