Berlin 2015 – scientific programme
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CPP: Fachverband Chemische Physik und Polymerphysik
CPP 65: (Hydro)gels and Elastomers
CPP 65.3: Talk
Thursday, March 19, 2015, 10:00–10:15, PC 203
Tunable microcavities with dielectric elastomer actuators — •Irma Slowik1, Nils Kronenberg3, Markus Franke2, Hartmut Fröb1, Malte Gather3, Andreas Richter2, and Karl Leo1 — 1Institut für Angewandte Photophysik, TU Dresden, Deutschland — 2Institut für Halbleiter- und Mikrosystemtechnik, TU Dresden, Deutschland — 3School of Physics, University of St Andrews, Scottland
Dielectric elastomers are promising materials for electromechanical systems because of their high dielectric strength and their ability to deform under applied voltage up to very high strains. Dielectric elastomer actuators are used for artificial muscles, conformable displays, stretchable integrated circuits, and biomedical electrode interfaces. Due to their high transparency and flexibility, they show excellent potential for tunable optical elements like tunable phase plates, cavities, or gratings.
We discuss the design and performance of an electrically tunable multi-half wavelength cavity. Here, the cavity resonance can be tuned by changing the cavity thickness due to electrostriction of the soft elastomer. For a proof of principle, metal-elastomer-DBR cavities are build, which exhibit quality factors between 100 and 800. Applying a voltage between a bottom ITO electrode and the top metal layer leads to a reversible shift of the cavity modes up to 15 nm, which relates to a cavity thickness change of about 400 nm. Depending on the metal film thickness, the Young’s modulus of the device differes between 10-300 kPa.