US 12,405,406 B2
Controllable lens actuated via flexure joints
Pierre Craen, Embourg (BE); Janne Tapani Kilpinen, Akaa (FI); and Vladimir Kartashov, Horten (NO)
Assigned to poLight ASA, Skoppum (NO)
Appl. No. 18/000,629
Filed by POLIGHT ASA, Skoppum (NO)
PCT Filed Jun. 22, 2021, PCT No. PCT/EP2021/066948
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Dec. 2, 2022,
PCT Pub. No. WO2021/259911, PCT Pub. Date Dec. 30, 2021.
Claims priority of application No. 20181359 (EP), filed on Jun. 22, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2023/0296814 A1, Sep. 21, 2023
Int. Cl. G02B 3/14 (2006.01); G02B 26/08 (2006.01)
CPC G02B 3/14 (2013.01) [G02B 26/0833 (2013.01)] 15 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A controllable lens with variable optical power, the lens comprising:
a first cover member and a second cover member, wherein one of the first and second cover members is transparent, and the other of the first and second cover members is transparent or reflective,
a transparent, deformable, non-fluid body sandwiched between the first and second cover members, so that the first and second cover members and non-fluid body constitute a lens with an optical axis intersecting the first and second cover members and the non-fluid body,
one or more actuators comprising a plurality of actuator displacement elements configured to be displaced in a direction parallel with the optical axis,
one or more elastic elements connecting the actuator displacement elements with the first cover member, wherein at least a portion of each of the one or more elastic elements is configured to deform elastically in response to a relative radial displacement between the first cover member and the actuator displacement elements,
wherein each of the one or more elastic elements has a first stiffness in the radial direction and a second stiffness in the direction of the optical axis, wherein the first stiffness is smaller than the second stiffness and the first stiffness is configured to enable radial deformations in the range from 0.05 μm to 500 μm, and wherein the controllable lens is configured so that in response to a displacement of the actuator displacement elements in the direction parallel with the optical axis and the generated bending of the first cover member a surface at an interface between the one or more elastic elements and the first cover member is rotated about an axis, which is tangent to a path encircling the optical axis.