Abstract
Reconfigurable beam steering components are indispensable to support optical and photonic network systems operating with high adaptability and with various functions. Currently, almost all such components are made of solid parts whose structures are rigid, and hence their functions are difficult to be reconfigured. Also, optical concentration beam steering is still a very challenging problem compared to radio frequency/microwave steering. Here we show a watermill-like beam steering system that can adaptively guide concentrating optical beam to targeted receivers. The system comprises a liquid droplet actuation mechanism based on electrowetting-on-dielectric, a superlattice-structured rotation hub, and an enhanced optical reflecting membrane. The specular reflector can be adaptively tuned within the lateral orientation of 360°, and the steering speed can reach ~353.5° s−1. This work demonstrates the feasibility of driving a macro-size solid structure with liquid microdroplets, opening a new avenue for developing reconfigurable components such as optical switches in next-generation sensor networks.
Highlights
Reconfigurable beam steering components are indispensable to support optical and photonic network systems operating with high adaptability and with various functions
The beam tuning system driven by electrowetting on dielectric (EWOD)[8,9,10], which is defined as the change in the contact angle between an electrolyte and a dielectric surface owing to an applied electric potential between them, shows distinct advantages
The 3D hub design was sliced into a sequence of 2D patterns, which were sequentially transmitted to a spatial light modulator and were illuminated with UV light from a lightemitting diode (LED) array
Summary
Reconfigurable beam steering components are indispensable to support optical and photonic network systems operating with high adaptability and with various functions. Their applications are ubiquitous in our daily lives, ranging from optical switches[1,2,3], laser beam security networks[4], in-home WiFi antenna networks[5], global positioning systems (GPS)[6] to autonomous vehicle remote control[7] To make these advanced sensing and telecommunication networks feasible in a more complex environment, a higher level of beam signal transmission standards, e.g., avoidance of signal mitigation over a longer transmission distance and alleviation of the multi-path fading phenomenon, needs to be carefully addressed. The annular array of EWOD electrodes can be programmably activated to circulate a liquid droplet for digitally actuating the membrane reflector This EWOD-driven “watermill” is able to laterally rotate the reflector by 360° without the constraint of contact angle saturation[23,24,25], which outperforms most existing liquid-based actuation devices reported in the literature[12,13,14,15,16,19,21]. The testing results of optical beam steering range, tuning speed, beam tuning repeatability, and the specular reflectance of the reflector are reported
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