A Depth Sensor Based on Transient Property of Liquid Crystal Lens

Abstract The property of maintaining the lens state of the liquid crystal (LC) lens during the switching between positive and negative lens states is made use of in the fast acquirement of multi-focus images without magnification change. A depth from focus (DFF) pipeline that can generate a low-error depth map and an all-in-focus image is proposed. The depth of the scene is then obtained via DFF pipeline from the captured images. The depth sensor proposed in this paper has the advantages of simple structure, low cost, and long service life.