Electrowetting optical switch with circular tunable aperture

Sheng Rong; Yannanqi Li; Lei Li

doi:10.1117/1.OE.57.8.087102

6 August 2018 Electrowetting optical switch with circular tunable aperture

Sheng Rong, Yannanqi Li, Lei Li

Author Affiliations +

Funded by: National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), Natural Science Foundation of China, Equipment Research Program in Advance of China

Optical Engineering, Vol. 57, Issue 8, 087102 (August 2018). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.OE.57.8.087102

Abstract

We propose an optical switch with a circular tunable aperture based on electrowetting effect. The device is composed of two immiscible liquids. One liquid is dye-doped and conductive, while the other is transparent and insulating. The dye-doped water droplet is placed in the center of the bottom substrate, surrounded by transparent oil. In our experiment, in the voltage-off state, the light beam cannot pass through the aperture. When the voltage is applied, the black liquid expands in the radial direction because of the effect of electric field force and a circular aperture appears in the center of the device. Therefore, the device can achieve the function of light-on and light-off. Our device can provide a reasonable attenuation (∼582 ∶ 1). The aperture can be tuned from ∼0 to ∼5.8 mm. It requires ∼260 ms and ∼2.4 s for the device to switch on and off, respectively. Potential applications of this tunable optical switch are wide, for example, in adaptive irises, light shutters, and optical beam controls.

Citation Download Citation

Sheng Rong, Yannanqi Li, and Lei Li "Electrowetting optical switch with circular tunable aperture," Optical Engineering 57(8), 087102 (6 August 2018). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.OE.57.8.087102

Received: 14 June 2018; Accepted: 27 July 2018; Published: 6 August 2018

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