Soft color-composites for optical switching and dimming

We present a novel class of soft and actuable color-composites, whose optical transmittance can be switched and tuned by mechanical deformation, on demand. Our samples are fabricated with a spatially heterogeneous arrangement of regions of optically clear and dyed silicone-based rubbers, which can either be distributed in periodic arrays or randomly. Our devices can discretely transition from clear to opaque or exhibit a continuous variation of their transmittance depending on: the geometry of the substructure, the material properties of the components and the mode of loading. We evaluate the optical response of our color-composite structures through precision experiments and investigate the underlying mechanics through finite element modeling, which we use to systematically further explore the design space.