Research on the response improvement of optical actuation based on lead lanthanum zirconate titanate ceramics

Abstract

Lead lanthanum zirconate titanate actuators taken as one type of photo-deformable actuators have been widely applied for micro-driven systems and active vibration control of photostrictive laminated flexible structures. However, the slow response of photodeformation of single patch lead lanthanum zirconate titanate actuator greatly affects its application. In this article, the main factors for the slow response of the lead lanthanum zirconate titanate actuator are investigated using experimental method. The increasing temperature during light on state and the residual photovoltage and photodeformation during light off state are considered as dominant factors causing the slow response of the lead lanthanum zirconate titanate actuator. To gain a better driving capability of lead lanthanum zirconate titanate actuator, some effective solutions through weakening the effect of increasing temperature and eliminating residual photovoltage and photodeformation are proposed and experimentally validated in this article. Considering the effective solutions proposed in this article, a novel optical driving mechanism based on multi-patches combination is proposed.