SBIR Phase I: Tunable Lenses for Infrared Light

这项小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力主要体现在两个主要应用领域：红外摄像机和电信组件。可调红外镜头将使高性能的小型化红外摄像机成为可能，从而提高系统的安全性、自动导航和安全性。在通信领域，可调谐红外透镜将通过消除主动对准要求来降低组件成本，并可以在可配置光学设计中实现新功能。在科学研究方面也有影响，这将受益于用于光学实验的连续可变红外透镜的可用性。最后，这项技术的成功商业化将带来巨大的经济和就业效益。这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目旨在开发一种新型的红外光学和光子学设备：具有聚焦和光束导向特性的可调透镜，可以在不使用机械部件的情况下进行调整。该设备紧凑，低功耗，坚固耐用，价格低廉；他们承诺在红外成像和通信方面实现广泛的新应用。可调透镜包含两种不同折射率的不混相液体，两种液体之间的弯曲界面形成透镜表面。液体界面可以被施加的电场改变，以改变透镜的聚焦特性或使其倾斜，以便将光转向所需的方向。该项目将开发电润湿光学，采用一套新的材料，优化用于0.9至1.7微米的短波红外波段，用于夜视、传感和电信。

The broader impacts/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is in two main application areas: infrared cameras and telecommunications components. Tunable infrared lenses will enable highly capable miniaturized infrared cameras, resulting in improved systems for security, automatic navigation, and safety. In communications, tunable infrared lenses will reduce component costs by eliminating active alignment requirements, and can enable new functionality in configurable optical design. There are impacts, too, in scientific research, which will benefit from the availability of a continuously variable infrared lens for use in optical experimentation. Finally, there will be substantial economic and employment benefits stemming from successful commercialization of this technology.This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project seeks to develop a new type of device for infrared optics and photonics: tunable lenses with focusing and beam-steering properties that can be adjusted without the use of mechanical parts. The devices are compact, low-power, robust, and inexpensive; they promise to enable a broad array of new applications in infrared imaging and communications. The tunable lenses contain two immiscible liquids with different refractive indices, and the curved interface between the two liquids forms a lensing surface. The liquid interface can be altered by an applied electric field to change the focusing properties of the lens or to tilt it in order to steer light in a desired direction. The project will develop electrowetting optics with a new set of materials optimized for use in the short-wave infrared band between 0.9 and 1.7 microns, which is used for night vision, sensing, and telecommunications.