Hum, glasses with LCD ‘lenses’ in them that will auto focus and thus eliminate the need for bi-focals. This is so cool because I’m sure that in a few years I’m going to need them. I wonder if when they hit the street they will be featured in a movie. You know, one of those product placement deals where the item gets some serious closeups when the protagonist has pensive moments.
"…The dynamic glasses change focus using a 5-micron-thick layer of nematic liquid crystal, sandwiched between two pieces of glass. Molecules of the liquid crystal reorient themselves when exposed to an electric field and the researchers used this to create a type of dynamic Fresnel lens.
In a normal Fresnel lens, concentric rings are carved into a piece of glass causing light to become focused in a similar way to a conventional lens. Dynamic glasses mimic the Fresnel effect using concentric circles of clear electrodes on the pieces of glass containing the crystal. Activating these electrodes causes the liquid crystal to align into rings and focus light passing through the lens…"
