Focal stack camera in all-in-focus imaging via an electrically tunable liquid crystal lens doped with multi-walled carbon nanotubes

A focal stack camera, based on an electrically tunable-focusing liquid crystal (LC) lens doped with multi-walled carbon nanotubes, is proposed to generate a single all-in-focus image of a 3D scene without depth map in a relatively short time. Focal sweep strategy of the camera is devised. Both its depth of field (DOF) and focal sweep speed are analyzed and deduced. Nano doping method is adopted to improve electro-optical features of the LC lens. To efficiently produce all-in-focus image, a weighted average algorithm for all images in the focal stack is utilized. The experiments show that the result is a high contrast at sensor resolution. It is greatly potential in optical compact 3D imaging system.