Technology

Tech notes

1 Patents:

Optical physics is a mature science, and there are tens of thousands of patents for optical devices. So it is dramatic and exceedingly rare for a young company to own the basic patents on a major, foundational technology. Varioptic owns the two key patents that protect the essential elements of a liquid, focusable lens, covering the concept of centering a liquid droplet and the geometry of a centering container that makes it possible to use a liquid as a lens. Bruno Berge led the research underlying these patents at the University of Grenoble, and Varioptic has acquired complete control of the patents from the university.

Patent n°1:
“Lens with variable focus"
priority date:  8th October 1997
International publication number:  WO 99/18456

Patent n°2:
"drop centering device"
International publication date: 5th october 2000
priority date: 26th march 1999
international publication number:  WO 00/58763

2 Fundamentals on electrowetting:

M. Vallet, M. Vallade et B. Berge, « Limiting phenomena for the spreading of water on polymer films by electrowetting », Eur. Phys. J. B11 (1999) 583-591.

Limiting phenomena (PDF 331 Ko)

C. Quilliet , Bruno Berge, « Investigation of effective interface potentials by electrowetting » Eurphysics letter, 1 october 2002PP 99-105

Investigation (PDF 127 Ko)

Invited review paper : Quilliet C., Berge B. : « Electrowetting: a recent outbreak », Current Opinion in Colloid & Interface Science (2001) 6 :11-16

Electrowetting (PDF 168 Ko)

3 Tunable Lenses

B. Berge and J. Peseux; « Variable focal lens controlled by an external voltage: an application of electrowetting », Eur. Phys. J. E (2000) 3 p159-163.

Variable_focal_lens (PDF 146 Ko)

Bruno Berge, Claude Gabay et al, « Dynamic study of a Varioptic variable focal lens » , Proceedings of SPIE, 8-9 July 2002

Dynamic_study (PDF 125 Ko)

Lisa SAUREI, Gilles Mathieu, Bruno Berge, « Design of an autofocus lens for VGA ¼ CCD and Cmos sensor », proceedings of SPIE conference, October 2003.

spie_final (PDF 273 Ko)

Varioptic: a new focus for optics

Autofocus lenses

Based on its patented electrowetting technology, Varioptic introduces the first commercially available electrically controllable optical lenses.

Zooms

The combination of various Varioptic tunable lenses enables the development of Zooms with no moving parts.

Technology Assessment Program (TAP):

A sound way to discover Varioptic technology and start designing with it.

Custom products

Based on volume and specification, custom products can be proposed and developed.

Varioptic
Bâtiment Tony Garnier - 8 B Rue Hermann Frenkel
69007 Lyon France
Tél. + 33 (0)4 37 65 35 31
Email: [email protected]