Article suggested by Masumeh, who is researching liquid bifocal and progressive lenses as a treatment for presbyopic (farsighted) patients.

There are several current projects that use Liquid Crystal Displays (LCD) to create magnification lenses. Some of the projects are being developed for use in small cameras such as cell phone cameras. There is also a project that uses the LCD's in a bifocal type of application (see picture).

Here's basically how these liquid lenses work: