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University of New Mexico

Design and Development of Advanced Adaptive Polymer Lenses

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

The dissertation presented here describes advancements made in adaptive polymer lens design and implementation. Singlets and doublets lenses were constructed for visible, short- wavelength infrared (SWIR), and middle-wavelength infrared (MWIR)applications. The lenses are implemented in a variety of tactical imaging systems to demonstrate their performance. A process was developed that defines the allowable fabrication variables, first for APL singlets and then for APL doublets. A first-order finite element model is described that enables going from an optical design to APL fabrication. This model was then extended to the design of fluidic doublets, which are equivalent to their two-element glass counter-parts. Two constant volume fluidic chambers were enclosed by three flexible membranes resulting in a variable focal length doublet. Chromatic focal shift was then used to compare numerical modeling to experimentally measured results. These same tools, methodology, and process were lastly used in the definition and fabrication of the SWIR and MWIR adaptive polymer lens for tactical systems. vi Imaging and illumination systems are presented, based on these lensesnotably an adaptive zoom imaging system, in the MWIR. This is the first known instance of such a system in this band.

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Electrical Engineering
Level thesis:degree_level
Dissertation
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Year
2014

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Santiago, Freddie
Contributors dc:contributor
  • Krishna, Sanjay
  • Diels, Jean-Claude
  • Dawson, Ralph
  • Bagwell, Brett

Rights

Language dc:language
English

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Repository record dc:identifier
https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/ece_etds/224
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:digitalrepository.unm.edu:ece_etds-1223

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
University of New Mexico
Base URL
digitalrepository.unm.edu/do/oai/
Last updated
2026-07-24
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
related terms
citation

Santiago, Freddie. Design and Development of Advanced Adaptive Polymer Lenses. Dissertation thesis, 2014. https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/ece_etds/224