Deformable optical elements may be physically altered through fluid displacement. We imprint a grating surface onto an elastomeric membrane by soft lithography. The membrane is installed as a flexible wall of a sealed fluidic chamber. Injection of excess fluid into the chamber induces expansion of the membrane, effectively varying the groove spacing of the imprinted grating. In transmission experiments using a broadband light source, we are able to achieve a 127.2-nm shift in peak wavelength with an injected fluid volume of 0.56 ml. A paraboloid model of the change in curvature of the grating during expansion accurately describes our experimental results.
Raphael A. Guerrero,
Sarah Jaye C. Oliva,
"Optical wavelength tuning via actuation of a fluidic grating," Optical Engineering 53(2), 025104 (20 February 2014). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.OE.53.2.025104