The angular position and the spot size of a laser beam -- important to applications such as optical data storage, laser printing and head-up display technology -- traditionally have had to be controlled using separate elements for focusing and scanning. Integration of these components into a single manufacturing step could reduce the cost of producing such devices. Now a team of scientists from Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico and Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pa., have developed an independently controlled electro-optic lens and scanner on a single crystal of LiTaO₃.

Control of the lens and scanner components enable a maximum number of resolvable spots at an arbitrary distance from the device. This is important for printing and read-write applications. The deflection angle and lens power are typical of those reported for individual lens and scanner devices in LiTaO₃.