Reconfigurable optical elements are essential components of the last generation of commercial optical devices in a wide range of industrial sectors, including mobile phones and microscopy. Response time, resolution and integrability are the main parameters to ameliorate in order to extend their capabilities. The SMARTLENS project deals with a novel technology, recently developed at ICFO, which enables to convert any conventional static optical lens into a compact and fast reconfigurable lens whose imaging properties can be dynamically shaped almost at will.
SMARTLENS enabled us to increase the maturity of the technology as well as better define its value proposition. On a technical note, we managed to translate the original concept from a complex experiment in a lab environment into a first integrated demonstrator based on mass-production compatible blocks. The developed prototype was fully characterized and its performance quantified. In parallel to our technological progress, in SMARTLENS, we assessed the assets of our technology over other competing approaches and identified the most promising markets. Following this step, the developed prototype was successfully validated on different selected applications. Capitalizing on the very positive outcome of the SMARTLENS project we will now keep working on a further maturation of the technology and the definition of a business plan.
Owing to its technological assets, we foresee the SMARTLENS technology to advance the imaging performances of future smart devices, in particular mobile phones.
