Interesting development...
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - Philips Electronics has developed a fluid-based lens whose focus can change using an electrical charge.
Philips, Europe's largest maker of consumer electronics, said the lens does not employ moving parts, so it is difficult to break and can focus more than a million times without wearing out.
"The idea isn't new," Philips spokesman Koen Joosse said. "As far back as the 17th century people made a fluid lens, but it wasn't capable of focusing."
The company believes it can mass-produce the lens for digital cameras, camera phones, home security systems and other uses. Many low-cost models of such cameras now have only fixed-focus lenses.
The FluidFocus lens contains two fluids, one of which responds to a weak but variable electrical charge. Adjusting the charge changes the surface tension of the solution and hence the shape of the lens.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp..._te/fluid_lens