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US 2004/0174610 A1Published application
Lenses with tunable liquid optical elements
AssigneeLucent Technologies Inc.
InventorsJoanna Aizenberg, Timofei Nikita Kroupenkine, Stanley Pau, Shu Yang
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A tunable optical lens includes a solid refractive optical lens, a channel adjacent to the solid refractive optical lens, and an extended body of liquid. A portion of the body forms at least part of an aperture stop for the lens. The portion of the body forms a meniscus that protrudes from or into the channel. The liquid is light-absorbing in the visual spectrum and/or in the near-infrared spectrum.
Claims19
An apparatus comprising:
- a solid refractive optical lens;
- a channel located adjacent to the solid refractive optical lens;
- and
- an extended body of liquid, a portion of the body forming at least part of an optical aperture stop of the lens, the portion forming a meniscus that protrudes from or into the channel, the liquid being light-absorbing in the visual or near-infrared spectrum.
1 more element
An apparatus comprising:
- a housing having a channel with a mouth;
- an extended body of a first liquid located in the housing, a portion of the body having a meniscus that protrudes from or into the mouth, the meniscus being pinned at the mouth;
- a second liquid in contact with the meniscus, the first and second liquids being immiscible, having different refractive indexes, and being transparent in a portion of the visual spectrum;
- and
- a device capable of displacing the body.
2 more elements
A method for tuning an optical lens, comprising:
- deciding whether a characteristic of a lens has an appropriate value, the characteristic being one of a focal length of the lens and a size of an optical aperture of the lens;
- deforming a meniscus a liquid body to compensate the characteristic in response to deciding that the characteristic has an inappropriate value;
- and
- wherein the meniscus bulges from or into a channel and forms one of the lens and an aperture stop for the lens.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.