Collaborative Research: A Bioinspired Reconfigurable Optofluidic Device with Tunable Field-of-View and Adaptive Focusing Power

具有宽视场（FOV）的成像对于许多应用非常重要，包括消费摄影、监视、天文学和医学成像。节肢动物的复眼天生就是一个美丽的设计，用于实现宽视场的成像，其中一组小透镜位于半球形的圆顶上，以离散的视角观察场景。这使得节肢动物能够寻找食物并避开捕食者。然而，复眼的大视场往往伴随着低图像分辨率。人眼是另一种天生的光学设计，它可以聚焦于场景中的物体，从而获得高分辨率和清晰度的图像。然而，人眼的视场是有限的。由于自然界中两种视觉系统的工作原理不同，光学设备往往是基于一种设计构建的，无法捕捉到另一种设计提供的光学性能。该项目旨在开发一种新的设计，以实现宽视场和良好的聚焦能力。这项工作提出了两种自然视觉系统的光学特性的独特组合。这种受生物启发的光学设计可能会超越目前最先进的技术，并使许多需要小型设备才能实现宽视场高质量成像的应用成为可能。应用实例包括远程监控和腹腔镜手术。该项目将通过课程和现有的外展项目对研究生、本科生和K-12学生进行培训和教育。它还可能通过与临床用户和工业界的伙伴关系产生商业上可行的产品。本研究的目的是研究并实现一种具有可调视场和自适应聚焦能力的可重构光流器件。这种可重构的光学设计将显著提高现有复合透镜的图像分辨率。通过改变透镜结构来减小弹性体-液体透镜的球差，为增大自适应液体透镜的有效孔径提供了一种实用的方法。这对于为了实现短焦距和高光功率而变形到很大程度的液体透镜尤其重要。利用模拟人眼视网膜曲面的曲线像面，有望显著降低视场曲率引起的像差。此外，将设计具有机械可拉伸性和可变形性的超薄光电探测器阵列，以实现曲线成像平面。这种设计和制造策略可用于广泛的光学和生物医学应用。总的来说，通过允许动态聚焦和可调视场，同时减少光学像差，可重构的光流体设计将为下一代基于液体透镜的自适应光学提供重要的科学知识。本研究的研究成果将透过会议报告、期刊出版及社交媒体传播至光学、光子学及生物医学工程界。

Imaging with a wide field-of-view (FOV) is important for many applications including consumer photography, surveillance, astronomy, and medical imaging. The arthropod compound eye is a beautiful design by nature for achieving imaging with a wide FOV, where an array of small lenses are situated on a hemispherical dome to view a scene at discrete perspectives. This allows arthropods to search for food and avoid predators. However, the large FOV of a compound eye is often accompanied by low image resolution. The human eye is another optical design by nature that can focus on an object in a scene and thus acquire images with high resolution and sharpness. However, the FOV of the human eye is limited. Due to the different working principles of the two vision systems in nature, optical devices are often built based on one design and cannot capture the optical performance offered by the other. This project aims at developing a new design for achieving both a wide FOV and good focusing power. This work presents a unique combination of optical characteristics of the two natural vision systems. This bio-inspired optical design could potentially surpass the current state-of-the-art and enable many applications that require a small device for achieving high quality imaging with a wide FOV. Example applications include remote surveillance and laparoscopic surgery. The project will lead to the training and education of graduate, undergraduate and K-12 students through courses and existing outreach programs. It may also lead to commercially viable products through partnerships with clinical users and industry. This objective of this research is to investigate and implement a reconfigurable optofluidic device with a tunable FOV and adaptive focusing power. This reconfigurable optical design will significantly improve the image resolution of currently available compound lenses. The method of reducing spherical aberrations of the elastomer-liquid lenses by changing lens configurations provides a practical way to increase the effective aperture of adaptive liquid lenses. This is especially important for liquid lenses that are deformed to a great extent in order to achieve a short focal length and high optical power. The use of a curvilinear image plane that imitates the curved retinal surface of the human eye is expected to significantly reduce the aberration caused by field curvature. In addition, ultra-thin photodetector arrays with mechanical stretchability and deformability will be designed to achieve a curvilinear image plane. Such design and manufacturing strategies can be used in a broad range of optical and biomedical applications. Collectively, by allowing dynamic focusing and tunable FOV, while at the same time reducing optical aberrations, the reconfigurable optofluidic design will provide important scientific knowledge for the next-generation liquid-lens-based adaptive optics. The research outcome of this study will be disseminated to the optics, photonics, and biomedical engineering communities through conference presentations, journal publications, and social media.