DARPA Bio-Optic Synthetic Systems Programs: A Novel Lens System Featuring a Highly Dynamic Focal Length
Abstract
The major goal of the project was to develop an adaptive optical system featuring a radical, dynamic and reversible change in focal length using polydimethylsiloxane (silicone) science and technology. The assertion that silicone-functional mesogens (liquid crystals), where the mesogen displayed an intrinsically high birefringence, would behave similarly and yield the necessary nematic liquid crystalline mesophase in an appropriate temperature range, was demonstrated to be a robust hypothesis. The silicone portion of the materials allowed for the tailoring of both the phase behavior and miscibility to comply to the demands of the adaptive optics application. Classes of silicone mesogens, where the mesogen was either a metallomesogen or else a highly pi-conjugated mesogen were successfully prepared. The metallomesogens did not display the required high birefringence (0.2 < Delta n < 0.5); however, many of the conjugated mesogens did. We conclude that for the metallomesogens, the birefringence of the materials is an extremely sensitive function of the molecular structure of the material. Although many of the materials investigated demonstrated smectic phases, we were able to prepare some showing the required nematic phase. Dispersions of select mesogens in a curable silicone polymer were prepared and demonstrated an elastomeric rheology allowing for the fabrication of mechanically- and electrically-active lenses. A crude adaptive optical device was prepared using these lenses which demonstrated a dynamic, scalable and reversible focal length.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 11, 2004
- Accession Number
- ADA424461
Entities
People
- Fumito Nishida
- Kai Su
- Steven A. Snow
- Timothy M. Lauer
- Udo C. Pernisz
Organizations
- Dow Corning