Electroactive Polymer Deformable Micromirrors (EAPDM) for Biomedical Optics
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Electroactive Polymer Deformable Micromirrors (EAPDM) for Biomedical Optics Cheng Huang, Bo Bai, Baojun Chu, Jim Ding, and Q.M. Zhang Electrical Engineering Department and Materials Research Institute The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, [email protected] ABSTRACT Electroactive polymers (EAPs) are capable of converting energy in the form of electric charge and voltage to mechanical force and movement and vice versa. Several electroactive polymer actuator materials whose responses are controlled by external electric fields, e.g. poly(vinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene) based fluoroterpolymers, have generated considerable interest for use in applications such as artificial muscles, sensors, parasitic energy capture, integrated bio-microelectromechanical systems (BioMEMS) and microfluidic devices due to their high electric-field induced strain, high elastic modulus, high electromechanical coupling and high frequency operation, etc. Scaling the EAP down into microsystems is one of the promising trends of EAP actuators and sensors especially for biomedical engineering. The combination of micro-optics and integrated BioMEMS, referred to as bio-micro-optoelectromechanical systems (BioMOEMS), makes a new opportunity for innovation in the EAP field. We present an approach to the fabrication of low-cost, large-stroke deformable micromirrors based on high performance electroactive polymer film microactuator arrays. Integrated Optic-BioMEMS based on electroactive polymer deformable micromirror (EAPDM) technology provide potential applications in biomedical optics such as ophthalmology (retinal imaging and vision care) and cancer detection and treatment. INTRODUCTION Biomedical optics is a field that uses light to interrogate tissues for diagnostic purposes and to treat disease and assist surgery and has applications in both biomedical research and clinical care such as ophthalmology / vision care, cancer detection and treatment, (optical imaging of retina and dysplasia and superficial cancer), and optical fiber devices for photodynamic therapy [1-4]. For many patients, a diagnosis of glaucoma, macular degeneration, or retinitous pigmentosa, a hereditary deterioration of the light sensitive cells of retina, signifies eventual blindness. Such disorders have posed a formidable challenge for researchers and vision care providers due to the difficulties in accurately resolving the minute structures that comprise the human retina [5,6]. Borrowing on its success in astronomy, adaptive optics is set to aid physicians and their patients in the treatment of vision disorders, which can provide a unique diagnostic capability for effects of vision correction and for high resolution retinal imaging. As shown in Figure 1, an adaptive optics system can be used to sense and correct aberrations in a subject’s eye by controlling wavefront phase, enabling detailed studies of visual performance and retinal structure under a variety of conditions. The deformable mirror is a key element in a high-resolution retinal im
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