A nanoimprinted strain-induced reconfigurable polymer micro-optical grating

We have developed a micro-optical grating made of an organic elastomer, Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), which exhibits profile reconfigurability controlled by programmed mechanical strain. The whole device structure incorporates a nanoimprinted PDMS grating integrated with electrostatic MEMS actuators on a silicon chip by a new fabrication method named "multi-level soft-lithographic lift-off and grafting (ML-SLLOG)". The ML-SLLOG process allows soft lithographically molded PDMS micro-structures to be integrated together with silicon micromachined device patterns. The developed PDMS/silicon hybrid device varies the diffraction angle of incident visible light with fast response by taking advantage of the mechanical compliance of PDMS structures. The demonstrated PDMS-based grating device can be used to miniaturize current grating-based instruments while retaining their original functionality.