title: Advanced characterization of electrowetting retroreflectors.
abstract: Electrowetting retroreflectors use a simple and scalable construction, and incorporate an electrically tunable liquid lenslet. By electrically modulating the lenslet geometry, the reflection is switched between retroreflection and scattering. In this paper, we report new capability and characterization, including higher index liquids and contrast ratio as a function of contact angle (theta(V)). The reflected intensity is also spatially profiled and reported as a function of view angle. A high contrast ratio of >16X is demonstrated, and methods for further improving performance are discussed. Because the electrowetting retroreflector platform is broad spectrum (VIS-IR), the electrowetting retroreflector may be useful for a large variety of naked eye applications such as safety markings, road-signage, or friend-foe-identification.
authors.affiliation: Novel Devices Laboratory, Dept. of Elec. & Comp. Engineering, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio 45220, USA.
authors.forename: Murali K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Kilaru
authors.forename: Jia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Jason
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Heikenfeld
mesh_terms: D017076:Computer-Aided Design; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D007909:Lenses; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012212:Rheology / Q000295:instrumentation*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012996:Solutions / Q000737:chemistry; D017155:Wettability
chemical_list: D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D012996:Solutions