MECHANICAL DEFORMATION BASED ON OPTICAL ILLUMINATION

摘要

An artificially structured dielectric material having optical pro perties which depend upon the intensity of light incident on the material is described. The material (2) comprises: an array of resiliently moveable mechanical elements (6) of a dielectric material which are attached to a substrate (4). The elements (6) are configured such that when the material i s illuminated with light (8) of a selected intensity and wavelength the elemen ts (6) move towards the region of higher intensity of the light thereby alterin g the optical properties of the material (2).