Quasi-planar stepped lenses (QSL’s) based on phasing have proven to perform closely to conventional refractive lenses for the generation of both focused and limited diffraction beams. However, since QSLs are passive and made from solid materials, each must be designed with a specific frequency and beam type in mind. In this paper, we report on a tunable lens with a planar aperture that employs liquid channels to perform phase-based beamforming. The desired phase patterns are produced using specific speed-of-sound profiles and can be flexibly configured for a range of frequencies and beam types without modification. In this study, the beam data exhibits a robust focus and limited diffraction consistent with the chosen phasing pattern. The results demonstrate the efficacy of the liquid-based lens in generating beams consistent with the design parameters despite utilizing only four phase shifting channels.

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