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Photothermal Optical Beam Steering Using Large Deformation Multi-Layer Thin Film Structures

Photothermal actuation of microstructures remains an active area of research for microsystems that demand electrically isolated, remote, on-chip manipulation. In this study, large-deformation structures constructed from thin films traditional to microsystems were explored through both simulation and...

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Autores principales: Hall, Harris J., McDaniel, Sean, Shah, Piyush, Torres, David, Figueroa, Jose, Starman, LaVern
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8070700/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33919730
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/mi12040428
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author Hall, Harris J.
McDaniel, Sean
Shah, Piyush
Torres, David
Figueroa, Jose
Starman, LaVern
author_facet Hall, Harris J.
McDaniel, Sean
Shah, Piyush
Torres, David
Figueroa, Jose
Starman, LaVern
author_sort Hall, Harris J.
collection PubMed
description Photothermal actuation of microstructures remains an active area of research for microsystems that demand electrically isolated, remote, on-chip manipulation. In this study, large-deformation structures constructed from thin films traditional to microsystems were explored through both simulation and experiment as a rudimentary means to both steer and shape an incident light beam through photothermal actuation. A series of unit step infrared laser exposures were applied at increasing power levels to both uniformly symmetric and deliberately asymmetric absorptive structures with the intent of characterizing the photothermal tilt response. The results indicate that a small angle (<4° at ~74 W/cm(2)) mechanical tilt can be instantiated through central placement of an infrared beam, although directional control appears highly sensitive to initial beam placement. Greater responsivity (up to ~9° mechanical tilt at ~54 W/cm(2)) and gross directional control was demonstrated with an asymmetrical absorptive design, although this response was accompanied by a large amount (~5–10°) of mechanical tilt burn-in and drift. Rigorous device cycling remains to be explored, but the results suggest that these structures, and those similar in construction, can be further matured to achieve controllable photoactuation suitable for optical beam control or other applications.
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spelling pubmed-80707002021-04-26 Photothermal Optical Beam Steering Using Large Deformation Multi-Layer Thin Film Structures Hall, Harris J. McDaniel, Sean Shah, Piyush Torres, David Figueroa, Jose Starman, LaVern Micromachines (Basel) Article Photothermal actuation of microstructures remains an active area of research for microsystems that demand electrically isolated, remote, on-chip manipulation. In this study, large-deformation structures constructed from thin films traditional to microsystems were explored through both simulation and experiment as a rudimentary means to both steer and shape an incident light beam through photothermal actuation. A series of unit step infrared laser exposures were applied at increasing power levels to both uniformly symmetric and deliberately asymmetric absorptive structures with the intent of characterizing the photothermal tilt response. The results indicate that a small angle (<4° at ~74 W/cm(2)) mechanical tilt can be instantiated through central placement of an infrared beam, although directional control appears highly sensitive to initial beam placement. Greater responsivity (up to ~9° mechanical tilt at ~54 W/cm(2)) and gross directional control was demonstrated with an asymmetrical absorptive design, although this response was accompanied by a large amount (~5–10°) of mechanical tilt burn-in and drift. Rigorous device cycling remains to be explored, but the results suggest that these structures, and those similar in construction, can be further matured to achieve controllable photoactuation suitable for optical beam control or other applications. MDPI 2021-04-14 /pmc/articles/PMC8070700/ /pubmed/33919730 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/mi12040428 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Hall, Harris J.
McDaniel, Sean
Shah, Piyush
Torres, David
Figueroa, Jose
Starman, LaVern
Photothermal Optical Beam Steering Using Large Deformation Multi-Layer Thin Film Structures
title Photothermal Optical Beam Steering Using Large Deformation Multi-Layer Thin Film Structures
title_full Photothermal Optical Beam Steering Using Large Deformation Multi-Layer Thin Film Structures
title_fullStr Photothermal Optical Beam Steering Using Large Deformation Multi-Layer Thin Film Structures
title_full_unstemmed Photothermal Optical Beam Steering Using Large Deformation Multi-Layer Thin Film Structures
title_short Photothermal Optical Beam Steering Using Large Deformation Multi-Layer Thin Film Structures
title_sort photothermal optical beam steering using large deformation multi-layer thin film structures
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8070700/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33919730
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/mi12040428
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