Researchers at Belgium’s Ghent University have created an optical circuit that can stretch up to 30% beyond its original size and bend around objects as thick as a human finger – all while still operating normally.
Created from a rubber-like material called poly-dimethylsiloxane (PDMS), the new circuit was connected to a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser on one end and a photo diode on the other. Once switched on, light beamed through the circuit, proving it was capable of transferring information even as researchers bent and stretched its body.
“To our knowledge, this is indeed the first truly bendable, stretchable optical link with these miniature dimensions,” said Jeroen Missinne of Ghent University.
Designed using two separate PDMS-based materials, the Ghent circuit features a transparent core that serves as the bridge over which light travels. This core is then surrounded by another layer of PDMS with a lower refractive index that traps light within it’s interior. Through this dual layering process the circuit creates a channel through which optical info can travel but cannot escape.
While Ghent researchers see a future for their material in deformable electronics and wearable sensors they also believe it has more futuristic implications. Like our skin, which moves, pinches and stretches, flexible circuits could be key to creating robotic skin that has the ability to sense the world around it; and while that future is still decades away, it’s an exciting possibility.
Image Courtesy of The Optical Society