Cascading of Liquid Crystal Elastomer Photomechanical Optical Devices

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the cascading of two liquid crystal elastomer photomechanical optical devices, characterizes their response, and shows that their coupled behavior can be accurately predicted, indicating potential for large-scale integration.

Contribution

It introduces a method to predict the coupled response of serially connected photomechanical devices, advancing the design of integrated photomechanical systems.

Findings

Coupled PODs response matches experimental data across various waveforms.

Individual POD response functions can predict the behavior of the coupled system.

Large-scale integration of photomechanical devices is feasible.

Abstract

Photomechanical actuation is demonstrated in two coupled liquid crystal elastomer photomechanical optical devices (PODs) acting in series. The response function of an individual POD is characterized and used to predict the temporal response of the coupled system. The predicted coupled-system response agrees with the experiment for several waveforms and frequencies, suggesting that large-scale integration of photomechanical devices is possible.