Tunable Eyeball Cameras With Zoom

Eyeball Camera

In our previously developed bio-inspired eyeball cameras, photodetectors are distributed on curvilinear surfaces to match the strongly nonplanar image surfaces (i.e., Petzval surfaces) that form with simple lenses. Although these systems provide advantages compared to those with conventional, planar designs, their fixed detector curvature renders them incompatible with changes in the Petzval surface that accompany variable zoom achieved with simple lenses.Here, we put stretchable photodetector arrays on thin elastomeric membranes, capable of reversible deformation into hemispherical shapes with radii of curvature that can be adjusted dynamically, via hydraulics. Combining this type of detector with a similarly tunable, fluidic planoconvex lens yields a hemispherical camera with variable zoom and excellent imaging characteristics.

Journal Cover

 

References:

I. Jung, J. Xiao, V. Malyarchuk, C. Lu, M. Li, Z. Liu, J. Yoon, Y. Huang, and J. A. Rogers, Dynamically tunable hemispherical electronic eye camera system with adjustable zoom capability, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 108, 1788-1793 (2011) (featured on the cover of PNS magazine)

C. Lü, M. Li, J. Xiao*, I. Jung, J. Wu, Y. Huang, K.-C. Hwang, and J.A. Rogers, Mechanics of tunable hemispherical electronic eye camera systems that combine rigid device elements with soft elastomers, Journal of Applied Mechanics-Transactions of the ASME (accepted)

S. Wang, J. Xiao, J. Song, H. C. Ko, K.-C. Hwang, Y. Huang, and J. A. Rogers, Mechanics of curvilinear electronics, Soft Matter 6, 5757–5763 (2010)

D.-H. Kim, J. Xiao, J. Song, Y. Huang and J. A. Rogers, Stretchable, Curvilinear Electronics Based On Inorganic Materials, Advanced Materials 22, 2108–2124 (2010)

S. Wang, J. Xiao, I. Jung, J. Song, H. C. Ko, M. P. Stoykovich, Y. Huang, K.-C. Hwang and J. A. Rogers, Mechanics of Hemispherical Electronics, Appl. Phys. Lett. 95, 181912 (2009).

J. Song, Y. Huang, J. Xiao, S. Wang, K.C. Hwang, H.C. Ko, D.H. Kim, M.P. Stoykovich, and J.A. Rogers, Mechanics of noncoplanar mesh design for stretchable electronic circuits, Journal of Applied Physics 105, 123516 (2009).

H. C. Ko, M. P. Stoykovich, J. Song, V. Malyarchuk, W. M. Choi, C.-J. Yu, J. B. Geddes, J. Xiao, S. Wang, Y. Huang, and J. A. Rogers, A Hemispherical Electronic Eye Camera Based on Compressible Silicon Optoelectronics. Nature 454, 748-753 (2008). (featured on the cover of Nature magazine)