Autonomous Self-Sustained Liquid Crystal Actuators Enabling Active Photonic Applications

Advances in biomimicry have led to the rise of advanced robotics, posing promising revolutions across a variety of fields. Programmable self-sustained actuation in nature, such as human's heart beating, bird's wingbeats, and penguin's waddling, are intriguing and inspiring but challenging for device innovation, which hinders the emergence of autonomous self-feedback applications, especially in optics and photonics. Herein, the design, fabrication, and operation of crosslinked liquid crystal actuators are described that combine the programming of microstructures and the engineering of macroscopic shape morphing for active optics and photonics. The actuators consist of twisted nematic liquid crystal molecules with both elastic and optical anisotropies, resulting in large bending deformations in response to heat. Programmable bending motions and self-sustained waddling oscillations are demonstrated, further contributing to the achievements of dynamic 2D beam steering and self-sustained light field modulation. It is envisioned that these actuators with self-sustained performances without requiring turning the stimulus on-off will find applications in autonomous active optical systems, photonic applications, as well as self-governing robotics with the core feature of thermo-mechanical-optical transduction.