Light intensity and FOV-controlled adaptive fluidic iris

In this paper, we propose a light intensity and field of view (FOV) both controlled adaptive fluidic iris. A 90° twisted-nematic liquid crystal (TNLC) cell and two orthogonal polarizers are attached on the substrate. When applied a voltage to TNLC, it can change phase of the incident light, leading to the light intensity changed. A black mask was placed in the middle part of the chamber. When changing the hydraulic pressure from inlet and outlet, the black mask can move within the chamber. It is equivalent to changing the iris position along the optical axis. So the iris can control FOV in an optical system. The experiments show that the device can control the light intensity from 100% to 0% by applying the voltage of 9V on the TNLC cell. The proposed device can be applied in imaging systems and optical attenuators.