Experimental photographic solution

Do you think your mobile phone also has a telephoto of 10-20 times, which can capture the toes of athletes in large-scale football matches? Maybe this technology will appear in 20 19.

Dapingjun recently noticed that Huawei's new mobile phone Mate 30 will be launched in the fourth quarter of 20 19, and it is rumored that it will adopt the zoom technology of 10 to realize the "long coking" of mobile phone products for the first time. The black technology to achieve this leap is not only the "liquid lens" technology-the latter has many application cases in astronomy, endoscopy and other fields, and is regarded as one of the most revolutionary "innovations" of "optical processing technology" for thousands of years.

The news about Huawei's black technology was originally in 20 18 1 1 month, and Huawei disclosed this new patent. In this regard, industry critics believe that this shows that the patented technology has matured and experimental products have been developed. 20 19 1 It is reported that the "supply chain" manufacturers have confirmed the "liquid lens" technology of Huawei's new machine and once again "nailed the board" for the application of this black technology.

In this regard, Dapingjun feels that even if 20 19 does not see the application of "liquid lens", at least this information is enough to show that "consumer electronics circles such as mobile phones" are seriously considering liquid lens technology. If this technology is applied to mass products such as mobile phones, it will greatly promote the development of "liquid optical processing equipment"-under the scale value, the cost reduction and performance improvement will be more expected. Such a change will inevitably have a far-reaching impact on another device "projection" that is more highly dependent on optical processing.

Lens-"King" in Projection System

How important is the optical lens to the projector? Most people just think that the "projection magnification" picture needs a lens. In fact, the light source processing part inside the projector also needs an optical lens. That is, a projector, at least the optical path has two independent lens systems. Therefore, Dapingjun said that the technological revolution of optical lenses, in a sense, is the "application revolution" of projectors.

/kloc-in the past 0/0 years, there are three main types of technological innovations in projector products: the first type is the innovation of new light sources such as LED, laser and HLD, which has realized the application of high-efficiency and long-life solid-state light sources and changed the cost dilemma of light source consumables. The second is the innovation of 4K display technology-however, this technical progress is not very strong, and it has not been fully popularized until today. Thirdly, it is the innovation of lens system: on the one hand, the new solid-state light source itself needs to redesign the lens products of light source processing optical path; On the other hand, short-focus lenses, especially reflective short-focus lenses, have greatly changed the application scene of projectors.

For example, the most fundamental change of the popular "laser tv" product is the adoption of optical light-proof curtain and "ultra-short-focus reflection technology". On the contrary, whether to use a laser light source is not "the necessary technology for this TV experience." Theoretically, ultra-short focus mirror technology comes from the internal imaging optical path of "rear projection TV". However, for today's ultra-short focus reflex lenses, the projection area of 50-70 inches of traditional rear projection TV is not enough-in fact, most products in laser tv have a projection screen as high as 100 inch, covering more than two 70-inch TV screens.

Therefore, Dapingjun must point out that today's ultra-short focus reflex lens, of course, inherits the design creativity of the internal lens and optical path of rear projection TV, but it is also an "absolutely limited" "short focus reflex" engineering product. The success of this product has also changed the application form of projectors and created brand-new application value in the family, engineering and education markets.

Da Pingjun's analysis of the changes of projection technology in the past 10 years shows that the progress of "optical lens" is an "important" innovation point in the projection industry, even a "revolutionary" innovation point-laser tv is the best proof. And if the "liquid lens" can be successfully applied on a large scale, then the world of projection will also have new changes.

Liquid lens, where is better?

Judging from the current news, Huawei's liquid lens technology is more about "realizing telephoto zoom of mobile phone cameras". But it has stronger zoom ability, which is not the only advantage of liquid lens. For the technical advantages of liquid lens, Dapingjun has the following summary:

First, the focal length is more flexible-although the mobile phone needs a liquid lens to bring a telephoto effect, the influence of the liquid lens on the focal length is not only telephoto, but also the "short focus" end and aperture can be adjusted. In other words, the "concave-convex" curvature of the liquid lens in the liquid lens is electrically adjustable, which can flexibly realize the wide range transformation of short focal length, long focal length and large and small aperture. However, the traditional lens needs a large number of optical lenses with complex structure and difficult processing to realize this change. For projectors, this means that short-focus products may be further innovated.

Second, the cost is lower-the cost of traditional lenses is mainly reflected in the processing of "lenses". Liquid lens can reduce the amount of lens used, do not need precise optical polishing, and the cost is naturally lower. For the projection industry, most mini-projector uses a fixed-focus lens of 1.2: 1. The reason is that "short focus, long focus and zoom" all mean cost-1.2:1lens is the best cost and use scene matching. However, if the liquid lens is mature, micro-projection can achieve short focus, long focus and zoom effect at low cost.

Third, faster focusing speed-whether it is a mobile phone camera, a digital camera or a projection lens, it will face the problem of focusing. Fast focusing speed is one of the most important empirical values. The liquid lens is completely based on the electromagnetic principle of high-speed control, which can achieve millimeter-level fast focusing, without the noise and vibration of the electric lens, and there is no virtual focus problem caused by mechanical wear of the electric lens. This is very useful for all projection application scenarios.

Fourth, the volume and space are smaller-a liquid lens does not have to use one liquid lens, but can be multiple lenses. But in any case, that variability of the curvature of the liquid len itself changes the only way that the traditional len zoom depends on the spatial distance adjustment (of course, Dapingjun thinks that the liquid lens can also be apply in combination with the distance adjustment), and at the same time, the use of "lens group" can be greatly reduced, thus reducing the number of glass lenses, and there is almost no need to worry about the smoothness of the optical surface in the imaging quality. These changes mean that liquid lenses are smaller and lighter than optical glass lenses under the same function-which is one of the reasons why mobile phone companies take the lead in taking a fancy to this technology. For projectors, although the lens is not the key to "weight and volume", manufacturers will not mind the lighter design.

In short, Dapingjun feels that the advantages of liquid lens are really too great. Inheriting all the achievements and experiences of traditional optical design, the liquid lens can achieve many functions that were difficult to achieve before, without changing the internal structure of the final product and relying on the transformation of lens technology and control system. In fact, there are many magical applications:

Magical application of liquid lens

The first case of liquid lens discovered by Dapingjun is a model of "saving money". As the world's largest 13 reflecting telescope, the liquid emission boundary telescope (LMT) with a diameter of 236 inches (6 meters) was developed by scientists from the University of British Columbia (UBC). Its reflecting surface is formed by a container filled with mercury rotating at a speed of 5 revolutions per minute. The cost of this telescope is only about $654.38+0 billion, while it costs about $654.38+0 billion to build a telescope of the same size with traditional technology. Liquid parabolic lens directly saves 99% of the cost for the project. Scientists say that this technology may enable ordinary people to use "top-class" optical astronomical telescopes in the future. Canada and the United States have also built similar telescopes.

The second application case of liquid lens is "high-speed shooting". Researchers at Rensselaer Institute of Technology designed and tested an adaptive liquid camera lens, which can take 250 images per second, requiring less energy than other camera technologies. This research result was published in Nature Photonics (the top international journal). And researchers believe that the focus drive of this lens can reach 65438+ million times per second at the earliest.

The third case is the "closest to consumers" liquid lens case. At CeBIT 2004, Samsung showed the camera module of liquid lens for mobile phone, which adopted the patent of Vario Optical Company. According to reports, after using the liquid lens, the camera module can be made thinner, and the lens does not need to be physically moved, so the power consumption can be greatly reduced. In addition, Sony and Olympus also registered many patents for liquid lenses. At present, Yao Ying Optoelectronics has been able to provide a large number of liquid lens products for customers including medical care.

In short, what Dapingjun wants to say is that liquid lens is not a new technology, it has a long history of research and development and many use cases; However, liquid lens is still a cutting-edge technology, which needs continuous product development and innovation. Especially for projectors, traditional cameras and video cameras, liquid lenses need to break through technical limitations such as large size.

However, any subversive scientific and technological progress is not "completed in one day", and even those technologies once seemed "impossible". However, so many amazing technologies and products were finally born! I believe the liquid lens will do the same. Moreover, the large-scale application of smart devices in mobile phones and other consumer electronic products and artificial vision in the Internet of Things will be the starting point for its technology to enter a high-speed explosion stage. 20 19, maybe we can witness this miracle.

On this basis, Dapingjun is convinced that the liquid lens, like any other revolutionary changes in projectors caused by the progress of optical technology, will be an important support point for the upgrading and innovation of the projection industry in the future-especially in micro-projection products, this technology has a high probability of being applied first and maturing, which is also the need to enhance the product experience value. We have every reason to expect that liquid lens projectors will be popularized one day in the future.