Abstract

We demonstrate a polarization-independent distortion corrector fabricated using a polymer-dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) cell placed on the intermediate image plane of an optical system. At low voltage, a hazy PDLC cell scatters the incident rays and redirects the off-axis propagated chief ray. The chief ray approaches the principal point of the lens element, thereby decreasing image distortion. At high voltage, the PDLC cell becomes transparent, thereby restoring the image distortion. The PDLC-based distortion corrector is an easy-to-fabricate universal device that can be applied to various optical systems. With a large lens diameter, the distortion of a PDLC-corrected image is approximately $1/5$ of that of an uncorrected image.

© 2014 Optical Society of America

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