Abstract
Liquid-crystal lens-cells shaped like a plano-convex Fresnel lens with homogeneous alignment are prepared. Their focal length can be varied from the value fe for an extraordinary ray to nearly fo for an ordinary ray by applying an electric field across the cell. The response and recovery times within several seconds are attained in the liquid-crystal lenses. More transparent (\gtrsim80%) variable-focus liquid-crystal lenses are achieved in the double-layered structure of two identical liquid-crystal Fresnel lenses with a mutually orthogonal optic axis.