Tunable Diffractive Optical Elements Based on Shape-Memory Polymers Fabricated via Hot Embossing

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• 作者：Senta Schauer ; Tobias Meier ; Maximilian Reinhard ; Michael Röhrig ; Marc Schneider ; Markus Heilig ; Alexander Kolew ; Matthias Worgull ; Hendrik Hölscher
• 刊名：ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
• 出版年：2016
• 出版时间：April 13, 2016
• 年：2016
• 卷：8
• 期：14
• 页码：9423-9430
• 全文大小：454K
• 年卷期：0
• ISSN：1944-8252

文摘

We introduce actively tunable diffractive optical elements fabricated from shape-memory polymers (SMPs). By utilizing the shape-memory effect of the polymer, at least one crucial attribute of the diffractive optical element (DOE) is tunable and adjustable subsequent to the completed fabrication process. A thermoplastic, transparent, thermoresponsive polyurethane SMP was structured with diverse diffractive microstructures via hot embossing. The tunability was enabled by programming a second, temporary shape into the diffractive optical element by mechanical deformation, either by stretching or a second embossing cycle at low temperatures. Upon exposure to the stimulus heat, the structures change continuously and controllable in a predefined way. We establish the novel concept of shape-memory diffractive optical elements by illustrating their capabilities, with regard to tunability, by displaying the morphing diffractive pattern of a height tunable and a period tunable structure, respectively. A sample where an arbitrary structure is transformed to a second, disparate one is illustrated as well. To prove the applicability of our tunable shape-memory diffractive optical elements, we verified their long-term stability and demonstrated the precise adjustability with a detailed analysis of the recovery dynamics, in terms of temperature dependence and spatially resolved, time-dependent recovery.