ABSTRACT
Light-driven and optically controlled actuators have evolved rapidly in the past decade because of unprecedented advances in innovative materials, new fabrication processes, and a multidisciplinary approach to product and process design. These devices are typically small remotely activated transducers that transform the spectral, intensity, or phase properties of light into very small structural displacements and forces. Radiation pressure and optical gradient forces have been used to manipulate minuscule objects, while the spectral properties of light have changed the mechanical behavior of various stimulus responsive polymers. Alternatively, optically driven photothermal effects have been used to heat liquids and gases in an effort to increase the Œuid pressure acting on a Œexible diaphragm. Many of these induced effects are not readily observable with the human eye and may not appear to be signi„cant in the larger more familiar world, but within the micro-and nanodomain of the very very small, these light-driven mechanisms become viable solutions.
