Development of a Simulation Pipeline for Validating and OptimizingElectrically Tunable Liquid Crystal Zooming Systems

[Reseach Abstract. Project Overview missing]

simulation package available) to simulate a zooming system composed of tunable liquid crystal lenses
that is capable of aberration correction. The first component of the project consists of simulating a liquid
crystal lens in COMSOL. The liquid crystals rearrange themselves based on a space varying electric
field created by the placement of multiple electrodes and special materials. The crystal rearrangements
produce a rapid change in local refractive index. Therefore, the entire system produces a radial gradient
in refractive index and behaves like an effective concave or convex lens depending on the applied
voltages.
The second component of the project consists of importing COMSOL data into Zemax to create an
optical system capable of zoom and aberration correction with three tunable lenses or more. This
??simulation pipeline??, would allow for immediate design validation before prototyping the optical system,
saving research time, effort, and costs. The full zooming system has enormous applications in
smartphone photography, microscope imaging, manufacturing machine vision, and tunable glasses for
the visually impaired.

Faculty Supervisor:

Bo Cui

Student:

Mohammad Soltani

Partner:

Scope Photonics Inc

Discipline:

Engineering - computer / electrical

Sector:

Manufacturing

University:

University of Waterloo