Optical performance of commercial liquid lens assemblies in microgravity

Abstract. Focus-tunable liquid lenses are used in various applications due to their compact size, light weight, low power consumption, and cost effectiveness. They have the potential for use in space applications, such as focus compensation, optical communications, and imaging systems. However, liquid lenses have not yet been evaluated for use in the space environment. This work focuses on characterizing operational differences of commercially available liquid lenses from Corning Varioptic and Optotune between Earth gravity, microgravity, and hypergravity environments. Results show a linear drift in the tip/tilt of 0.80 and 4.20 mrad going from 1 to 0 g for the Corning Varioptic A-39N0 lens and Optotune EL-16-40-TC-VIS lens, respectively, with lower optical aberrations in microgravity. Additionally, a significant but small increase in focal power going from 1 to 0 g by 0.02 D is observed for the Optotune lens. No significant change in focal power is observed for the Corning Varioptic lens tested in this experiment. Additionally, potential multi-beam interference is observed in defocus patterns of the Corning Varioptic lens tested during the experiment.