Liquid-crystal lenses with a controlled focal length. I. Theory

Spherical and cylindrical adaptive liquid-crystal lenses are proposed. The modal principle of control of the; distribution of the refractive index ove r the aperture is used in these lenses. This control is achieved by introdu cing an additional high-resistance electrode and placing low-resistance con tacts at the periphery of this electrode. A theory is developed of the phys ical processes occuring in the resultant distributed resistive-capacitative system, The calculated results make it possible in particular to optimise the operation of modal adaptive lenses.