ABSTRACT
As the key components in optical systems, lenses and apertures (sometimes called “diaphragms” or “irises”) have never stepped out of the spotlight in both academia and industrial research and development areas since their first appearance. Much effort is spent to not only improve the performances of these devices, but also scale down their dimensions and further equip them with tunability in order to meet the increasing demand for miniature camera modules integrated in various portable devices, including mobile phones, medical imaging systems, and surveillance systems. It is apparent that compact tunable lenses and apertures can provide these imaging systems with optical zooming/autofocus functions and improved image quality without sacrificing their slim profiles, which were never possible before with conventional optical devices.
