Español

Korean POSTECH develops stretchable color adjustable photonic devices

497
2024-06-11 15:34:09
Ver traducción

Liquid crystal elastomers are expected to be applied in displays, sensors, smart devices, and wearable devices.
A team from POSTECH University in South Korea, led by Professor Su Seok Choi and Professor Seungmin Nam, has developed a new type of stretchable photonic device that can control the wavelength of light in various directions.

This work was carried out by the Department of Electrical Engineering at the university and described in the journal Nature, Light: Science and Applications.


Structural colors are generated through the interaction between light and microscopic nanostructures, and do not rely on traditional color mixing methods to produce bright hues. Traditional displays and image sensors combine three primary colors (red, green, and blue), while structured color technology utilizes the inherent wavelength of light to produce more vivid and diverse color displays.

POSTECH's announcement states that this innovative method is being recognized as a promising technology in the nanooptics and photonics industries.

"Free adjustment of solid colors"
Traditional color mixing techniques using dyes or luminescent materials are limited to passive and fixed color representations. In contrast, adjustable color technology dynamically controls the nanostructure corresponding to a specific wavelength of light, allowing for free adjustment of pure colors.

Previous research was mainly limited to unidirectional color adjustment, typically converting colors from red to blue. Reversing this transition from blue to longer wavelength red has always been a major challenge.

The current technology only allows for adjustments to shorter wavelengths, making it difficult to achieve diverse color representations in the ideal free wavelength direction. Therefore, a new type of optical device capable of bidirectional and omnidirectional wavelength adjustment is needed to maximize the utilization of wavelength control technology.

Professor Cui's team solved these challenges by combining chiral * 1 liquid crystal * 2 elastomers (CLCE) with dielectric elastomer actuators (DEA). CLCE is a flexible material that can change the color of the structure, while DEAs cause flexible deformation of the dielectric in response to electrical stimulation.

The team optimized the actuator structure to combine with CLCE, enabling it to expand and contract, and developed a stretchable device with strong adaptability. The device can freely adjust the wavelength position in the visible spectrum, from shorter to longer wavelengths, and vice versa.

In their experiment, researchers demonstrated that their CLCE based photonic devices can use electrical stimulation to control the structural colors over a wide range of visible light wavelengths (from blue at 450nm to red at 650nm). Compared to previous technologies, this represents significant progress, which were limited to unidirectional wavelength tuning.

This study not only lays the foundation for advanced photonic devices, but also highlights their potential in various industrial applications.
Professor Cui commented, "This technology can be applied to displays, optical sensors, optical camouflage, direct optical simulation encryption, biomimetic sensors and smart wearable devices, as well as many other applications involving broadband electromagnetic waves beyond the light, color, and visible light bands. Our goal is to expand its application scope through continuous research.".

This study was supported by the Samsung Research and Incubation Center of Samsung Electronics and the Technology Innovation Program (Flexible Intelligent Variable Information Display) of the Korea Industrial Technology Planning and Evaluation Institute.

Source: Laser Net

Recomendaciones relacionadas
  • The research team developed additive manufacturing (AM) technology based on hydrogel injection, and related research was published on Nano Letters

    It is reported that the research team of California Institute of Technology has developed an additive manufacturing (AM) technology based on hydrogel injection, which uses two-photon lithography technology to produce 3D metal with a characteristic resolution of about 100 nm.The relevant research is published in the journal Nano Letters, titled 'Suppressed Size Effect in Nanopillars with Hierarchy ...

    2023-09-25
    Ver traducción
  • Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory develops PW grade thulium laser in the United States

    Recently, according to Tom's Hardware, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in the United States is developing a PW (1015 W) level large aperture thulium (BAT) laser. It is reported that this laser has the ability to increase the efficiency of extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) light sources by about 10 times, and may potentially replace the carbon dioxide laser used in current EUV too...

    02-13
    Ver traducción
  • TRUMPF machine cooler saves 50 percent energy

    Ditzingen, 05. March 2025 – At its in-house exhibition INTECH, high-tech company TRUMPF is showcasing a new cooler for its laser cutting machines. The new unit is capable of reducing energy consumed during the cooling process and uses fifty percent less energy than conventional solutions. Unlike conventional coolers, the main components of this new solution— such as pumps, fans and compressors— ar...

    03-14
    Ver traducción
  • The improvement of additive manufacturing through artificial intelligence, machine learning, and deep learning

    Additive manufacturing (AM) has made it possible to manufacture complex personalized items with minimal material waste, leading to significant changes in the manufacturing industry. However, optimizing and improving additive manufacturing processes remains challenging due to the complexity of design, material selection, and process parameters. This review explores the integration of artificial int...

    02-24
    Ver traducción
  • An efficient femtosecond pulse amplification technique for extracting the maximum stored energy in fiber laser amplifiers

    The well-known journal Optica published a paper in November 2024 titled "Near complete extraction of maximum stored energy from large core fibers using coherent pulse stacking amplification of femtosecond pulses"The authors of the paper were the University of Michigan, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Peking University, and the German Institute of Synchrotron Radiation.The specific technique...

    2024-11-13
    Ver traducción