Stretch-tuneable dielectric mirrors and optical microcavities

We demonstrate how tuneable Distributed Bragg Reflectors (DBRs) and resonant micro-cavities can be built by a scalable layer assembly of the transparent utility rubbers polydimethylsiloxane and polystyrene-polyisoprene. Stretching the devices by more than 60% leads to an affine contraction of the layer thicknesses thereby tuning both DBR and cavity modes across the entire visible spectrum. Such rapidly- and reversibly- stretch-tuneable cavities can be used in tuneable micro-lasers and for quantitative optical strain sensing applications. (C) 2010 Optical Society of America