Self-Steering Lasing System Enabled by Flexible Photo-Actuators with Sandwich Structure

With the flourishing development of artificial intelligence, lasing with tailored features generated by photonic crystal (PhC) lasers has been playing a more important part in the optics field and in potential applications of self-control, light detection and ranging, telecommunications, and holography imaging. As an information vehicle, the optical beam's maneuverability is influenced by the working wavelength, direction, and efficiency of the laser. Liquid crystal (LC)-based mirrorless lasers are widely investigated in manipulating the tuning of emission wavelength. Realizing fast self-steering of the laser beam to tune the emission direction is challenging because of the limitation on the complex and expensive inorganic fabrication and circuit design. In this work, a self-steered lasing from a defect-mode sandwich film composed of photomechanical deformable azobenzene cholesteric LC elastomer (CLCE) PhC layers and an isotropic gain interlayer is demonstrated. On the basis of the great light-deformability of the CLCE, the output single-mode lasing emission of the sandwich-film laser can be steered quickly by UV irradiation in a wide angular tuning range of approximate to +/- 57 degrees. This flexible, portable, and durable laser system with controllable beam-steering and mechanical robustness is envisioned to open a gate for autonomous vehicles, self-sustaining machines, and optical devices with the core feature of photomechanical conversion.

Automated summary

This study demonstrates a sandwich-film laser composed of photomechanical deformable azobenzene cholesteric LC elastomer (CLCE) PhC layers and an isotropic gain interlayer, which can quickly adjust the emission direction through UV irradiation. This flexible, portable, and durable laser system with controllable beam-steering is envisioned to have wide applications in autonomous vehicles, self-sustaining machines, and optical devices.