Iris‐Like Tunable Aperture Employing Liquid‐Crystal Elastomers

A liquid-crystal elastomer (LCE) iris inspired by the human eye is demonstrated. With integrated polyimide-based platinum heaters, the LCE material is thermally actuated. The radial contraction direction, similar to a mammalian iris, is imprinted to the LCE by a custom-designed magnetic field. Actuation of the device is reproducible over multiple cycles and controllable at intermediate contraction states.

[1]  H. Finkelmann,et al.  Investigations on liquid crystalline polysiloxanes 3. Liquid crystalline elastomers — a new type of liquid crystalline material , 1981 .

[2]  K. M. Lee,et al.  Topography from Topology: Photoinduced Surface Features Generated in Liquid Crystal Polymer Networks , 2013, Advanced materials.

[3]  Laurens T. de Haan,et al.  Engineering of complex order and the macroscopic deformation of liquid crystal polymer networks. , 2012, Angewandte Chemie.

[4]  Ulrike Wallrabe,et al.  Variable aperture stop based on the design of a single chamber silicone membrane lens with integrated actuation. , 2011, Optics letters.

[5]  C. Ohm,et al.  A Continuous Flow Synthesis of Micrometer‐Sized Actuators from Liquid Crystalline Elastomers , 2009, Advanced materials.

[6]  A. Lendlein,et al.  Polymers Move in Response to Light , 2006 .

[7]  E. Oesterschulze,et al.  Micro-structured electrochromic device based on poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) , 2013 .

[8]  J. Chang,et al.  Variable aperture controlled by microelectrofluidic iris. , 2013, Optics letters.

[9]  Banahalli R. Ratna,et al.  Liquid Crystal Elastomers with Mechanical Properties of a Muscle , 2001 .

[10]  Eugene M. Terentjev,et al.  Self‐Assembled Shape‐Memory Fibers of Triblock Liquid‐Crystal Polymers , 2006 .

[11]  Hans Zappe,et al.  Stretchable Optoelectronic Circuits Embedded in a Polymer Network , 2014, Advanced materials.

[12]  C. Ohm,et al.  Preparation of Soft Microactuators in a Continuous Flow Synthesis Using a Liquid-Crystalline Polymer Crosslinker , 2012 .

[13]  Humberto Campanella,et al.  Batch fabrication of optical actuators using nanotube–elastomer composites towards refreshable Braille displays , 2012 .

[14]  M. Shelley,et al.  Fast liquid-crystal elastomer swims into the dark , 2004, Nature materials.

[15]  R. Feuerstein,et al.  Integrated Optofluidic Iris , 2012, Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems.

[16]  R. Zentel,et al.  One-piece micropumps from liquid crystalline core-shell particles , 2012, Nature Communications.

[17]  C. Ohm,et al.  Liquid Crystalline Elastomers as Actuators and Sensors , 2010, Advanced materials.

[18]  E. M. Terentjev,et al.  Liquid Crystal Elastomers , 2003 .