Optical detection and imaging have wide applications in biomedicine and biological and chemical analyses. With continuing miniaturization effort to realize integrated microsystems, micro-scale optical components become more and more important. For any optical system, lenses are critical elements. In this paper, I will present our work on liquid microlenses. I will first introduce a few types of microlenses and microlens arrays, including tunable liquid microlenses actuated by temperature-, pH- and infrared light-responsive hydrogels. Then, I will discuss about potential applications of these lenses in medical instruments. I will describe miniaturized cameras capable of multiple viewpoints, and prototype flexible endoscopes implementing infrared-light responsive liquid microlenses at their distal ends.

Date Published: 12 April 2013
PDF: 10 pages
Proc. SPIE 8598, Bioinspired, Biointegrated, Bioengineered Photonic Devices, 85980B (12 April 2013); doi: 10.1117/12.2007428

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 8598:
Bioinspired, Biointegrated, Bioengineered Photonic Devices
Luke P. Lee; John A. Rogers; Seok-Hyun Yun, Editor(s)