Sleek, thin smartphone packages are great news for everyone except the team designing the camera inside. Until now, camera lenses have required mechanical focus mechanisms, requiring more space and power than designers might like.

LensVector has created a breakthrough solid-state autofocus lens, dramatically reducing the size and power of the lens package. The technology is based on a liquid crystal cell which, when applied with a small control voltage, changes in refractive index. Offering more ruggedness and reliability than mechanical systems as well as lower power, LVAF (Figure 1) provides focus from 10 cm to infinity.