Thermal lens arrays
This project aims to further understand and investigate the cross-talk between thermal lenses to enable fabrication of large-scale thermal arrays.
In contemporary imaging technology, integrated reconfigurable optical elements are crucial for enhancing advanced photonic devices like consumer camera systems and microscopy in research and clinical settings. Despite various proposed actuation mechanisms, many fall short in compactness, focal spot tunability as well as operation in transmission mode. The SmartLens technology addresses these criteria using the thermo-optic effect in a thermo-optical medium to modulate transmitted light by engineering the temperature and refractive index locally.
The objective of this project is to further develop the SmartLens technology and integrating an array of multiple varifocal lenses into existing optical systems, enabling simultaneous multi-plane imaging. However, densely packing multiple SmartLenses results in undesired thermal interactions, known as thermal crosstalk. To mitigate this issue, various technological solutions are being investigated and implemented. In the context of our close collaboration with the Institut de la Vision, in Paris, we aim at miniaturizing the entire system for its integration into endoscopes, paving the way for innovative in-vivo imaging technology.