Executive Summary : | Liquid crystal elastomers (LCE) are soft polymers that can be arranged in an ordered fashion, allowing them to reversibly change their shape in the presence of external stimuli. This project aims to explore the shape-changing properties of LCE to control the spectral characteristics of microresonator-based optical systems, which are of great interest for integrated photonics, optical interconnects, and optoelectronic circuits. Spectral tuning can be achieved by delicately controlling the resonator's physical parameters using the long-range orientational order of LCE. Fluorescent molecules like laser dyes or quantum dots can be integrated with LCE to realize active optical elements. The main objective is to achieve photomechanical control over the emission properties of LCE-based random laser and the absorption spectrum of LCE-based trilayer metamaterial absorber. The project explores realization of light-driven LCE-based movable micromechanical systems, controlling the onset of lasing by external stimuli, and LCE-based tunable absorbers. The absorption spectrum in a metamaterial absorber can be tuned by constructing periodic plasmonic nanostructures on the LCE platform, and the orientations of the liquid crystals in the dielectric layer can be used to acquire additional features in the absorption spectrum. The shape-changing properties of LCE have potential applications in micro/nano-actuators, sensors, microfluidic devices, flexible electronic devices, micro-robotics, smart membranes, and metasurfaces. |