Pouria Valley, a doctoral candidate at the University of Arizona, has developed an improved flat lens that can change magnification and focus without physically moving parts. The lens uses liquid crystals between two thin glass plates that can bend light when tiny electrical charges are applied, mimicking adjustments made by traditional movable lenses. Valley's work led to patents and a startup company, LenSense, which was selected as a finalist in Nokia's innovation competition and plans to supply lenses for one in four mobile phone cameras by 2013. His liquid crystal electro-zoom technology has applications for webcams, medical devices, and remote sensing.

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As far back as the 11th century, early scientists wrote about using lenses for magnification. Spectacles appeared 200 years later,
and by 1609, Galileo was training telescopes on the night sky.
The basic technology from then to now hasn't changed much: curve the surface of a piece of glass or mirror to gather and refocus
light, making objects appear closer. Changing magnification and focus has meant changing a lens or using multiple lenses and
varying distance between them.
But now Pouria Valley, a doctoral candidate at the UA College of Optical Sciences, is turning the page on thousands of years of
technology.
Under the guidance of optics professor Nasser Peyghambarian and as part of an interdisciplinary team of researchers, Valley has
improved upon a way to change the "zoom" and focus of a single flat lens without moving it a fraction of an inch.
The lens is actually liquid crystal between two pieces of glass less than a hair's width apart, each coated with a thin layer of
conductive material etched in a proprietary pattern. By sending tiny electrical charges through that coating into the liquid crystal,
Valley can alter the way it bends light, changing its magnification and focus as if physically shifting the space between two traditional
lenses.
Earlier work on the project led to three patent licenses for Johnson and Johnson, which funded the original research. Those patents
have since been purchased by another company using the technology to develop a new generation of "smart eyeglasses."
More recently, Valley and two other students formed another business plan around the improved invention through the UA's
top-ranked McGuire Entrepreneurship Program, capturing the attention of Nokia Corporation in the process.
The world's largest manufacturer of mobile phones selected their start-up — LenSense — as one of 12 finalists from some 100
Zooming In on Applied Research | The University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona http://www.arizona.edu/features/zooming-applied-research
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4. competitors in its annual "Mobile Rules!" Challenge, a global contest to surface the most promising innovations for mobile devices.
Working on the premise that "the best camera is the one you have with you," LenSense plans to supply the lens in one of every four
mobile phone cameras worldwide by 2013. And that's just the beginning.
Because Valley can achieve optical magnification with no moving parts and only a few volts of power, his liquid crystal, electro-zoom
technology has a long horizon of potential applications: web cameras, medical devices, remote sensing and more.
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Zooming In on Applied Research | The University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona http://www.arizona.edu/features/zooming-applied-research
2 of 2 12/3/2009 4:04 PM