Three-dimensional imaging with axially distributed sensing using electronically controlled liquid crystal lens

In this Letter, we present a three-dimensional (3D) imaging system with axially distributed sensing (ADS) using an electronically controlled liquid crystal (LC) lens. The proposed system performed an optical image acquisition by varying the focal lengths of the LC lens without mechanical movements of an image sensor. Multiple images with slightly different perspectives were experimentally recorded, and the 3D images were reconstructed according to the ray backprojection algorithm. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on 3D ADS using a LC lens. The proposed system is attractive for compact 3D sensing camera systems.