Recommendable! I am not expert enough to fully grasp the import of this discovery, but it seems to be very relevant and may have great potential!
"... The team ... discovered they could manipulate the three-dimensional orientation of liquid crystals by controlling light exposures of a photosensitive material deposited on glass.
They shined polarized and unpolarized light at the liquid crystals through a microscope. In polarized light, light waves oscillate in specific directions rather than randomly in all directions, as they would in unpolarized light. The team used the method to create a microscopic lens of liquid crystals able to focus light depending on the polarization of light shining through it. ...
The findings could lead to the creation of programmable tools that shapeshift in response to stimuli, like those needed in soft, rubberlike robots to handle complex objects and environments or camera lenses that automatically focus depending on lighting conditions ..."
The findings could lead to the creation of programmable tools that shapeshift in response to stimuli, like those needed in soft, rubberlike robots to handle complex objects and environments or camera lenses that automatically focus depending on lighting conditions ..."
From the abstract:
"Liquid crystals offer a dynamic platform for developing advanced photonics and soft actuation systems due to their unique and facile tunability and reconfigurability. Achieving precise spatial patterning of the liquid crystal alignment is critical to developing electro-optical devices, programmable origami, directed colloidal assembly, and controlling active matter. Here, a simple method is demonstrated to achieve continuous 3D control of the directions of liquid crystal mesogens using a two-step photo-exposure process. In the first step, polarized light sets the orientation in the plane of confining substrates; the second step uses unpolarized light of a prescribed dose to set the out-of-plane orientation. The method enables smoothly varying orientational patterns with sub-micrometer precision. As a demonstration, the setup is used to create gradient-index lenses with parabolic refractive index profiles that remain stable without external electric fields. The lenses' focal length and sensitivity to light polarization are characterized through experimental and numerical methods. The findings pave the way for developing next-generation photonic devices and actuated materials, with potential applications in molecular self-assembly, re-configurable optics, and responsive matter."
No comments:
Post a Comment