A scalable, light-controlled, individually addressable, non-metal actuator array

Research in the area of photo-actuation is growing rapidly, yet there are few examples of photo-actuators with practical use cases. One potential application is for the control of intelligent electromagnetic surfaces, or two-dimensional arrays that could shape and control an incident electromagnetic field in ideally any manner. A promising concept to realize such a surface leverages signal refraction via antenna edges, but requires non-metal actuation, large antenna rotations, and high antenna angular accuracy for long periods of time. Here, we present a nonmetal, light-controlled, multi-position inchworm actuator array that can rotate an antenna 88 degrees in incremental steps of less than 3.4 degrees with zero-power shape-persistence. The design is modular and rapidly manufacturable via a layered laser-cutting technique, such that the actuator can be tiled into an array to control the rotation of many antennas. We control the array with a single focused IR light that rasters across the actuators to precisely control all antenna positions. We characterize the response time, accuracy, and repeatability of a single actuator, and demonstrate the array achieving diverse antenna configurations. This work advances the precision and scalability of photothermal actuation not only for use in intelligent electromagnetic surfaces but for any application benefitting from light-controlled actuation.