Patent ID: 7420737

Claim:
A reconfigurable zone plate lens comprising: a central annular element having a first circumference centered about a central axis; a plurality of concentric annular elements of increasing circumference centered about the central axis and the central annular element, each annular element being positioned around an annular element with a smaller circumference; wherein the annular elements each comprise one or more liquid crystal display (LCD) elements; wherein the annular elements are each adapted to be in either an active state or an inactive state, and wherein further the active and inactive annular elements form a plurality of alternating active rings and inactive rings, each active ring comprising one or more annular elements in an active state and each inactive ring comprising one or more annular elements in an inactive state; and wherein further the one or more LCD elements of each annular element have a first phase shift in their active state, a second, different phase shift in their inactive state, and are light transmissive in both their active and inactive states.