Curvature by design in liquid crystal elastomer sheets

Spatial patterning of director orientation in liquid crystalline elastomers (LCEs) can generate rich stimuli-responsive 3D shape-morphing behavior. But in order for LCEs to fully realize their promise in application spaces such as tunable optics, design strategies must be developed to achieve arbitrary and precisely tailored 3D curvatures even in rubbery LCEs. Here we use a theory-driven strategy to realize a range of surfaces including paraboloids, as confirmed by high-resolution in-situ optical scanning. This approach also affords experimental insight into previous theoretical analyses of various forms of in-plane and radial symmetry breaking.