TUCSON, April 13 (UPI) -- University of Arizona and Georgia Institute of Technology scientists have created liquid crystal diffractive eyeglass lenses that can alter focusing power.
The researchers say such eyeglasses would be beneficial for anyone with imperfect vision, since the development opens the way for next-generation "smart" eyeglasses -- glasses with built-in automatic focus.
The researchers say that means within the foreseeable future, patients won't have to obtain a new pair of glasses whenever a prescription changes but the ophthalmologist or optometrist will input a new prescription into the glasses ther patient already owns.
"Right now, in our prototype, you switch the lenses on or off to change focus," said Nasser Peyghambarian, chairman of photonics and lasers in Arizona's College of Optical Sciences and professor of optical sciences, materials science and engineering. "But ultimately this will act just like your automatic camera: Eyeglass lenses will know where to focus just like your auto-focusing camera does."
Ten University of Arizona scientists and two colleagues at the Georgia Institute of Technology recently published the research in the online edition of the National Academy of Sciences.
