The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 23, 2018
Filed:
Dec. 18, 2017
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Michael S. Gordon, Yorktown Heights, NY (US);
John U. Knickerbocker, Monroe, NY (US);
Minhua Lu, Mohegan Lake, NY (US);
Robert Polastre, Cold Spring, NY (US);
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
A lens structure includes a transparent cell containing a liquid crystal material. The cell is thicker in a center region thereof than at peripheral regions. The structure further includes transparent electrically conductive electrodes coupled with opposing top and bottom surfaces of the cell and configured to establish an electric field through the cell that is strongest at the peripheral regions where the cell is thinner relative to the center region so that a value of the index of refraction of the liquid crystal material changes across the cell from the center region towards the peripheral regions to change an effective focal length of the lens structure. In some embodiments the top surface of the cell has a first curvature Cand the bottom surface of the cell has a second curvature Cthat differs from the first curvature.