Near-diffraction-limited and low-haze electro-optical tunable liquid crystal lens with floating electrodes

Electrically tunable gradient-index lenses via liquid crystals: beyond the power law

In this study we present an investigation of electrically tunable progressive lenses utilizing liquid crystals (LC). We introduce a polarized progressive LC lens capable of dynamically adjusting its focal length, functioning as either a positive or negative lens. Our findings reveal that the spatial distribution of lens power within the progressive LC lens, ranging from +4D to -3D, far surpassing the range of -0.87D to +0.87D which one may expect within the parabolic wavefront approximation. For a lens with a 30 mm aperture a total tunable range is 7.6 D (from +5.6D to -2D) which is 4.75 times larger than the traditional parabolic prediction∼1.6D (from +0.8D to -0.8D). This study not only challenges conventional limitations set by optical phase differences in gradient-index LC lenses (the power law) but also ushers in a new possibility for ophthalmic applications. The profound insights and outcomes presented in this paper redefine the landscape of LC lenses, paving the way for transformative advancements in optics and beyond.

Dynamic correction of astigmatism

For the correction of defocus and astigmatism, mechanical approaches are well known, but there is a need for a non-mechanical, electrically tunable optical system that could provide both focus and astigmatism power correction with an adjustable axis. The optical system presented here is composed of three liquid-crystal-based tunable cylindrical lenses that are simple, low cost, and having a compact structure. Potential applications of the concept device include smart eyeglasses, virtual reality (VR)/ augmented reality (AR) head-mounted displays (HMDs), and optical systems subject to thermal or mechanical distortion. Details of the concept, design method, numerical computer simulations of the proposed device, as well as characterization of a prototype, are provided in this work.

Orthogonal separation of arbitrary vector beams from non-polarized light waves based on a patterned liquid-crystal photo-alignment

An effective method for orthogonally separating arbitrary vector polarized beams from non-polarized incident light waves is proposed in this Letter. A tunable patterned spatial distribution of liquid-crystal (LC) molecules can be effectively constructed based on both the initial photo-alignment and the electrically controlled birefringence of nematic LC materials. The LC photo-alignment over a smooth surface without any common nano-grooves leads to a highly efficient light-wave transformation by inducing a desired initial arrangement of LC directors and then acquiring extraordinary light waves with the needed, or even arbitrary, spatial polarization. The vector polarized beams can be highly converged according to a microhole-patterned electrode and a gradient refractive index distribution of the LC layer, which is driven and adjusted by an applied signal voltage. Due to the intrinsic polarization sensitivity of nematic LC materials, the formed gradient refractive index appearance only corresponds to extraordinary light waves. The proposed approach provides a way to achieve the orthogonal separation of arbitrary vector beams from non-polarized light waves. Moreover, it can be further utilized to generate and obtain arbitrary vector beams, as well as to perform adaptive light-beam convergence or even the focusing of arbitrary vector beams, which is expected to advance the development of vector beam generation and manipulation, thereby stimulating potential applications.

Electrically addressed focal stack plenoptic camera based on a liquid-crystal microlens array for all-in-focus imaging

Focal stack cameras are capable of capturing a stack of images focused at different spatial distance, which can be further integrated to present a depth of field (DoF) effect beyond the range restriction of conventional camera's optics. To date, all of the proposed focal stack cameras are essentially 2D imaging architecture to shape 2D focal stacks with several selected focal lengths corresponding to limited objective distance range. In this paper, a new type of electrically addressed focal stack plenoptic camera (EAFSPC) based on a functional liquid-crystal microlens array for all-in-focus imaging is proposed. As a 3D focal stack camera, a sequence of raw light-field images can be rapidly manipulated through rapidly shaping a 3D focal stack. The electrically addressed focal stack strategy relies on the electric tuning of the focal length of the liquid-crystal microlens array by efficiently selecting or adjusting or jumping the signal voltage applied over the microlenses. An algorithm based on the Laplacian operator is utilized to composite the electrically addressed focal stack leading to raw light-field images with an extended DoF and then the all-in-focus refocused images. The proposed strategy does not require any macroscopic movement of the optical apparatus, so as to thoroughly avoid the registration of different image sequence. Experiments demonstrate that the DoF of the refocused images can be significantly extended into the entire tomography depth of the EAFSPC, which means a significant step for an all-in-focus imaging based on the electrically controlled 3D focal stack. Moreover, the proposed approach also establishes a high correlation between the voltage signal and the depth of in-focus plane, so as to construct a technical basis for a new type of 3D light-field imaging with an obvious intelligent feature.

Spatial separation of azimuthally and radially polarized beams from non-polarized light waves based on the electrically controlled birefringence effect

Based on the electrically controlled birefringence effect in liquid crystal materials, an effective method for spatially separating azimuthally and radially polarized beams from non-polarized incident light waves is proposed. The radially polarized beam was highly converged by using a microhole-patterned electrode and a planar photo-alignment layer to shape the initial liquid-crystal radial alignment and a gradient refractive index distribution with central axial symmetry after applying a voltage signal. Due to the intrinsic polarization sensitivity of nematic liquid-crystal materials, the shaped gradient refractive index only applies to extraordinary light waves, which then converge into a spot. Thus, the azimuthally and radially polarized beams are effectively separated. The proposed method demonstrates some advantages, such as low cost, miniaturization, and easy fabrication and integration with other functional devices. Thanks to the wideband electrically controlled birefringence of liquid-crystal materials, this light-wave manipulation to spatially separate azimuthally and radially polarized beams can also be performed over a wide wavelength range.

Ultrasound liquid crystal lens with enlarged aperture using traveling waves

A new type of ultrasonically controlled concave liquid crystal lens based on traveling waves (TWs) with a divided electrode structure and an appropriate driving scheme is proposed in this Letter. The lens uses an annular piezoelectric ceramic divided into four parts for four-phase driving and consists of a liquid crystal layer in a sandwich structure between two circular glass substrates. The lens configuration was simulated by finite element analysis using the Ansys software. Here we discuss the use of TWs to expand the lens aperture and clarify the lens' optical characteristics using a Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor. The effective lens aperture using TWs was 4.4 mm, and the focal length was 3.8 m.

Liquid Crystal Devices for Beam Steering Applications

Liquid crystals are valuable materials for applications in beam steering devices. In this paper, an overview of the use of liquid crystals in the field of adaptive optics specifically for beam steering and lensing devices is presented. The paper introduces the properties of liquid crystals that have made them useful in this field followed by a more detailed discussion of specific liquid crystal devices that act as switchable optical components of refractive and diffractive types. The relative advantages and disadvantages of the different devices and techniques are summarised.

Strain-Multiplex Metalens Array for Tunable Focusing and Imaging

Metalenses on a flexible template are engineered metal-dielectric interfaces that improve conventional imaging system and offer dynamic focusing and zooming capabilities by controlling the focal length and bandwidth through a mechanical or external stretch. However, realizing large-scale and cost-effective flexible metalenses with high yields in a strain-multiplex fashion remains as a great challenge. Here, single-pulsed, maskless light interference and imprinting technique is utilized to fabricate reconfigurable, flexible metalenses on a large-scale and demonstrate its strain-multiplex tunable focusing. Experiments, in accordance with the theory, show that applied stretch on the flexible-template reconfigurable diffractive metalenses (FDMLs) accurately mapped focused wavefront, bandwidth, and focal length. The surface relief metastructures consisted of metal-coated hemispherical cavities in a hexagonal close-packed arrangement to enhance tunable focal length, numerical aperture, and fill factor, FF ≈ 100% through normal and angular light illumination with external stretch. The strain-multiplex of FDMLs approach lays the foundation of a new class of large-scale, cost-effective metalens offering tunable light focusing and imaging.

Large area liquid crystal lenses for correction of presbyopia

Presbyopia is the failure of the eye lens to accommodate. The widely used presbyopia correction method involves wearing bi/trifocal or progressive glasses, which limits the field of view due to division of lens area into sections of different optical power. A large aperture focus tunable liquid crystal lens has the potential to correct human eye accommodation failure and provide a wide field of view. In this paper, we present characterization and demonstration of a segmented phase profile liquid crystal lens, which has the characteristics of a large area (diameter: 20 mm), being flat and thin (<2 mm), and having continuous focus tunability (1.5 D to 0 D), fast response time (<500 ms), low operating voltage (<5 V), and on-axis diffraction-limited performance (for a 5mm aperture). Considering all these properties, our lens provides performance details of an approach for presbyopia correction. We have tested the minimum resolution and visual acuity of 20 subjects using the designed lens and compared the results with a reference glass lens of the same optical power.

Asymmetrical bidirectional optical wireless communication system based on a transmissive 1D LC-SLM for NG-PON2

An asymmetric bidirectional optical wireless communication (B-OWC) system using optical fibers as the transmitter and receiver and capable of wavelength switching is proposed for next generation passive optical network stage two (NG-PON2) extension to home area network (HAN), without optical/electrical (O/E) and electrical/optical (E/O) conversions, which is based on a transmissive "floating" pixel size one-dimensional (1D) liquid crystal spatial light modulator (LC-SLM) at the access node (AN) and a modulated retroreflector (MRR) at the terminal user (TU). The utilization of a reflective grating element and a low-cost LC-SLM in the AN offers a high flexibility of beam steering and wavelength selection in the scenario of B-OWC. Instead of a light source used at conventional TU, a MRR was employed at a TU in order to improve the problems of the power consumptions, alignment difficulties, wavelength contentions, and cost of the TUs. Downlink and uplink data transmissions at a link speed over 2.5 Gbits/s, using wavelengths between 1590∼1603nm and 1524∼1544nm, respectively, corresponding to the downlink and uplink wavelengths specified by the NG-PON2 standard, have been experimentally demonstrated successfully, with quality factors (Q-factors) beyond the forward error correction limit (Q-factor=16.9dB, bit error rate=10^-12).

Improvement of liquid crystal tunable lenses with weakly conductive layers using multifrequency driving

A common technique to realize the gradient electric field profile that is required in liquid crystal tunable lenses is the use of a weakly conductive layer. Thanks to this layer, an applied voltage with a certain frequency allows us to obtain a refractive index profile that is required for the lens operation. Due to the limited degrees of freedom, however, it is not possible to avoid aberrations in a weakly conductive layer-based tunable lens for a continuously tunable focal length. In this work, we discuss the use of additional higher frequency components in the voltage signal to reduce the lens aberrations drastically.

Electrically tunable gradient-index lenses via nematic liquid crystals with a method of spatially extended phase distribution

The dilemma between tunable range of a lens power and an aperture size in gradient-index (GRIN) type of liquid crystal (LC) lenses is well known due to the limitation of birefringence of LC martials and the nature of soft matters. In order to overcome the dilemma of the power law, a multi-layered LC lens was previously proposed by us. However, the aperture size of GRIN LC lenses is still difficult to exceed 10 mm. In this paper, we proposed an electrically tunable GRIN LC lens via nematic liquid crystals with a method of spatially extended phase distribution. A GRIN LC lens with an aperture size of 20 mm is achieved. The proposed GRIN LC lens consists of two LC elements modulating wavefronts at different regions of the lens aperture extending to 20 mm. The lens power of the GRIN LC lens is continuously tunable, while the LC lens can function as a positive lens, a negative lens, and a bifocal lens. The proposed GRIN LC lens not only overcomes the dilemma of the power law but also provides a more practical approach that could benefit the ophthalmic applications and augmented reality systems.

Fast-switching laterally virtual-moving microlens array for enhancing spatial resolution in light-field imaging system without degradation of angular sampling resolution

We present an electrically controllable fast-switching virtual-moving microlens array (MLA) consisting of a stacked structure of two polarization-dependent microlens arrays (PDMLAs) with optical orthogonality, where the position of the two stacked PDMLAs is shifted by half the elemental pitch in the diagonal direction. By controlling the polarization of the incident light without the physical movement of the molecules comprising the virtual-moving MLA, the periodic sampling position of the MLA can be switched fast using a polarization-switching layer based on a fast-switching liquid crystal cell. Using the fast-switching virtual-moving MLA, the spatial-resolution-enhanced light-field (LF) imaging system was demonstrated without a decrease in the angular sampling resolution as compared to the conventional LF imaging system comprising a passive MLA; two sets of elemental image arrays were captured quickly owing to the short switching time of the virtual-moving MLA of 450 μs. From the two captured sets of the elemental array image, four-times resolution-enhanced reconstruction images of the directional-view and depth-slice images could be obtained.

High-efficiency, linear-polarization-multiplexing metalens for long-wavelength infrared light

Variable-focus lenses are essential elements of optical systems with extensive applications in microscopy, photography, and optical detection. However, conventional varifocal optical systems obtain a limited tunable capability at the expense of bulk size and slow speed. The metasurfaces are two-dimensional flat structures composed of subwavelength scatterers that exhibit the strong potential for developing ultrathin optics. Here we propose and experimentally demonstrate an all-dielectric polarization-multiplexing metalens with the capability to selectively focus polarized light. The focal length can be controlled by altering the linear polarization state of the incident light. The metalens has focusing efficiencies higher than 72% and exhibits nearly diffraction-limited focusing at long-wavelength infrared frequency. In addition, it is easy to realize high throughput with low manufacturing cost due to the use of complementary metal oxide semiconductor-compatible processes. We envision that this type of polarization-dependent device may pave the way towards the development of compact, multifunctional, and tunable optics.

Large aperture liquid crystal lens array using a composited alignment layer

A liquid crystal (LC) lens array with high light control power and a large aperture using a composited alignment layer is proposed. In our design, the alignment layer is not only used for getting a uniform arrangement of LC molecule, but also for getting a lens-like refractive index distribution in the LC layer when a voltage is applied. Through simple technology processes, a tunable focal length LC lens array with a millimeter scale diameter can be achieved. Furthermore, the maximum phase difference of the proposed LC lens array can achieve 105.38π. So, the proposed LC lens array has a high light control power.

Adaptive metalenses with simultaneous electrical control of focal length, astigmatism, and shift

Focal adjustment and zooming are universal features of cameras and advanced optical systems. Such tuning is usually performed longitudinally along the optical axis by mechanical or electrical control of focal length. However, the recent advent of ultrathin planar lenses based on metasurfaces (metalenses), which opens the door to future drastic miniaturization of mobile devices such as cell phones and wearable displays, mandates fundamentally different forms of tuning based on lateral motion rather than longitudinal motion. Theory shows that the strain field of a metalens substrate can be directly mapped into the outgoing optical wavefront to achieve large diffraction-limited focal length tuning and control of aberrations. We demonstrate electrically tunable large-area metalenses controlled by artificial muscles capable of simultaneously performing focal length tuning (>100%) as well as on-the-fly astigmatism and image shift corrections, which until now were only possible in electron optics. The device thickness is only 30 μm. Our results demonstrate the possibility of future optical microscopes that fully operate electronically, as well as compact optical systems that use the principles of adaptive optics to correct many orders of aberrations simultaneously.

Multi-electrode tunable liquid crystal lenses with one lithography step

Electrically tunable lenses offer the possibility to control the focal distance by applying an electric field. Different liquid crystal tunable lenses have been demonstrated. In order to minimize lens aberrations, multi-electrode designs allow us to fine-tune the applied voltages for every possible focal distance. In this Letter, we provide a novel multi-electrode design in which only one lithography step is necessary, thereby offering a greatly simplified fabrication procedure compared to earlier proposed designs. The key factor is the use of a high-permittivity layer, in combination with floating electrodes.

Optical camera with liquid crystal autofocus lens

A mobile phone camera with an innovative electrically tunable liquid crystal lens (TLCL) concept is demonstrated. We first report the comparative theoretical and experimental analyses of the performance of a traditional "modal control" TLCL versus a TLCL using a floating (unpowered) transparent electrode (FTE). It is shown that the appropriate choice of voltage and frequency values of the driving electric signal may improve significantly (almost twice) the optical quality of the lens using the FTE. Exceptionally low spherical aberrations of the lens (< λ/10 for up to 10 diopters of optical power) and high modulation transfer functions of a mobile phone camera (using those lenses for autofocus function) are demonstrated in a very simple operation mode (frequency tuning of the lens' optical power at a fixed driving voltage). The capacity of the camera to perform high quality long distance photography and near distance bar code recognition within a short autofocus convergence time are demonstrated.

Fast switching cholesteric liquid crystal optical beam deflector with polarization independence

Optical beam deflectors based on the combination of cholesteric liquid crystals and polymer micro gratings are reported. Dual frequency cholesteric liquid crystal (DFCh-LC) is adopted to accelerate the switching from the homeotropic state back to the planar state. Polarization independent beam steering components are realized whose transmission versus the polarizing angle only varies 4.4% and 2.6% for the planar state and the homeotropic state, respectively. A response time of 451 ms is achieved for DFCh-LC-grating beam deflectors, which is fast compared to other nematic LC beam steerers with similar LC thickness.

An Electrically Tunable Liquid Crystal Lens with Coaxial Bi-Focus and Single Focus Switching Modes

A hole-patterned electrode liquid crystal (LC) lens with electrically switching coaxial bi-focus and single focus modes of tuning is demonstrated. The proposed LC lens mainly consists of a two LC layer (TLCL) structure with different thicknesses to achieve higher focusing power than the conventional hole-patterned electrode LC lens with the same aperture size. In the TLCL structure, one LC layer, doped with 3 wt % RM257, was photopolymerized to achieve a fixed focusing power of 18.5 Diopter. Due to polarization dependence in TLCL lenses, an additional 90° twisted nematic (TN) cell was used to change the incident polarization in order to switch lens functions on or off. As a result, a fixed focusing power of 18.5 Diopter was achieved when voltages of 10 Vrms were applied to the 90° TN cell. In addition, the switching capabilities of the bi-focus and single focus modes were achieved when operating individually with applied voltages from 20 Vrms to 90 Vrms, and higher voltages of over 90 Vrms, respectively. The maximum focusing power in the fabricated TLCL lens is 30.9 Diopter.

Augmented reality with image registration, vision correction and sunlight readability via liquid crystal devices

Augmented reality (AR), which use computer-aided projected information to augment our sense, has important impact on human life, especially for the elder people. However, there are three major challenges regarding the optical system in the AR system, which are registration, vision correction, and readability under strong ambient light. Here, we solve three challenges simultaneously for the first time using two liquid crystal (LC) lenses and polarizer-free attenuator integrated in optical-see-through AR system. One of the LC lens is used to electrically adjust the position of the projected virtual image which is so-called registration. The other LC lens with larger aperture and polarization independent characteristic is in charge of vision correction, such as myopia and presbyopia. The linearity of lens powers of two LC lenses is also discussed. The readability of virtual images under strong ambient light is solved by electrically switchable transmittance of the LC attenuator originating from light scattering and light absorption. The concept demonstrated in this paper could be further extended to other electro-optical devices as long as the devices exhibit the capability of phase modulations and amplitude modulations.

Electrically switchable diffractive waveplates with metasurface aligned liquid crystals

Diffractive waveplates and equivalent metasurfaces provide a promising path for applications in thin film beam steering, tunable lenses, and polarization filters. However, fixed metasurfaces alone are unable to be tuned electronically. By combining metasurfaces with tunable liquid crystals, we experimentally demonstrate a single layer device capable of electrically switching a diffractive waveplate design at a measured peak diffraction efficiency of 35%, and a minimum switching voltage of 10V. Furthermore, the nano-scale metasurface aligned liquid crystals are largely independent of variations in wavelength and temperature. We also present a computational analysis of the efficiency limits of liquid crystal based diffractive waveplates, and compare this analysis to experimental measurements.

Large aperture liquid crystal lens with an imbedded floating ring electrode

We propose a hole-patterned large aperture (LA) liquid crystal (LC) lens with a diameter of 6 mm. In our design, a floating ring electrode is embedded into the interface between the dielectric layer and the LC layer. This structure increases the electric field strength around the floating ring electrode located near the aperture center and assists in distributing the fringing electric field throughout the LC layer. Therefore, the thick dielectric layer used in the conventional hole-patterned LA LC lens can be effectively decreased. Consequently, the proposed LA LC lens has low operation voltage, large lens power, and introduces a low wavefront error of approximately 0.07 λ.

High optical quality electrically variable liquid crystal lens using an additional floating electrode

Additional electrical impedance is introduced in a liquid crystal lens by adding a floating (nonconnected) electrode. This enables excellent optical quality in a very simple operation mode (frequency tuning of the lens' optical power at a fixed driving voltage). The comparative analysis of this lens confirms its suitability for mobile imaging applications.

Ferroelectric thin films with liquid crystal for gradient index applications

We report on the first ever combination of a thin film of lead zirconate titanate (PZT) with a liquid crystal (LC) layer. Many liquid crystal applications use a transparent conductive oxide to switch the liquid crystal. Our proposed processing does not, instead relying on the extremely high dielectric constant of the ferroelectric layer to extend the electric field from widely spaced electrodes over the liquid crystal. It eliminates almost entirely the fringe field problems that arise in nearly all the liquid crystal devices that use multiple addressing electrodes. We show, both via rigorous simulations as well as experiments, that the addition of a PZT layer over the addressing electrodes leads to a markedly improved LC switching performance at distances of up to 30 μm from the addressing electrodes with the current PZT-layer thickness of 0.84 μm. This improvement in switching is used to tune the focal length of the microlens with electrodes spaced at 30 μm.

Ultrathin Alvarez lens system actuated by artificial muscles

A key feature of Alvarez lenses is that they may be tuned in focal length using lateral rather than axial translation, thus reducing the overall length of a focus-tunable optical system. Nevertheless the bulk of classical microsystems actuators limits further miniaturization. We present here a new, ultrathin focus-tunable Alvarez lens fabricated using molding techniques and actuated using liquid crystal elastomer (LCE) artificial muscle actuators. The large deformation generated by the LCE actuators permits the integration of the actuators in-plane with the mechanical and optical system and thus reduces the device thickness to only 1.6 mm. Movement of the Alvarez lens pair of 178 μm results in a focal length change of 3.3 mm, based on an initial focal length of 28.4 mm. This design is of considerable interest for realization of ultraflat focus-tunable and zoom systems.

High-speed driving of liquid crystal lens with weakly conductive thin films and voltage booster

Liquid crystal (LC) lenses with weakly conductive thin films are known to have driving voltages of several volts, which are much smaller than those of devices without them; however, their response characteristics have not been investigated in much detail. Here, we show that low-voltage LC lenses, with the help of an overdrive pulse, can show response times of several 10 ms, which are comparable with voice coil motors currently used for focus-tuning of mobile cameras. We provide data on the lens power as well as real images captured using a lens module and a camera; we also present a compact circuit design that can boost a 3.5  V(rms) square pulse from a mobile battery to 15  V(rms). The results of this study should accelerate the use of LC lenses in mobile applications.

Hexagonal liquid crystal lens array for 3D endoscopy

A liquid crystal lens array with a hexagonal arrangement is investigated experimentally. The uniqueness of this study exists in the fact that using convex-ring electrode provides a smooth and controllable applied potential profile across the aperture to manage the phase profile. We observed considerable differences between flat electrode and convex-ring electrode; in particular the lens focal length is variable in a wider range from 2.5cm to infinity. This study presents several noteworthy characteristics such as low driving voltage; 30 μm cell gap and the lens is electrically switchable between 2D/3D modes. We demonstrate a hexagonal LC-lens array for capturing 3D images by using single sensor using integral imaging.

Three-dimensional imaging based on electronically adaptive liquid crystal lens

In this paper, we present a relatively simple method to acquire a 3D image based on an electrically controlled liquid crystal (LC) lens. Its advantage is that this proposed method does not need any mechanical movements to acquire a 3D image. The tunable-focus LC lens combined with a high-resistance layer (PEDOT) is applied by an overdrive method to become a key optical component for use in a 3D imaging system. Multiple 2D images of slightly different perspectives are recorded, respectively, and 3D images, according to a proposed mapping and projection method, can be reconstructed. This is the first report, to the best of our knowledge, on using an LC lens to reconstruct 3D images. The proposed 3D imaging system is novel for its compact and smart features, so it is attractive for some compact 3D imaging systems.

Speed, optical power, and off-axis imaging improvement of refractive liquid crystal lenses

Two design approaches (multicell and addition of phase resets in single cell) are introduced to optimize the performances of tunable refractive liquid crystal lenses, including improvements on the switching speed, optical power, and the off-axis, wide-angle imaging performance. Key parameters and advantages for each method are discussed, and their effects on the performance are demonstrated in detail with numerical calculations.

Liquid crystal microlens with dual apertures and electrically controlling focus shift

A novel liquid crystal (LC) microlens with dual apertures and electrically controlled beam-steering and focal length, which is designed and fabricated according to conventional microelectronic technology, is presented. The LC microlens is made of two layers of patterned electrodes, which are designed into basic quasi-circular holes with different diameters. The patterned electrodes are shaped in two indium-tin oxide (ITO) layers, which are separated by a thin SiO₂ film, and driven by electrical signals with different voltage amplitudes. The LC microlens with layered quasi-circular-hole electrodes can be used to converge incident light and the focal position of the lens can be changed electrically along both the optical axis and in a direction perpendicular to it. This design is attractive for wide applications requiring microlenses with variable fields of view and optical apertures or field stops.