Smart Optical Material Characterization System and Method

NASA's Langley Research Center has developed an adaptable and powerful interferometric test platform that uniquely enables multi-parameter evaluation of a wide variety of smart optical materials (SOM). The patent-pending SOM characterization system was created to measure the dynamic optical response of stimuli-responsive (“smart”) optical materials while external physical/electrical/thermal/chemical/pressure/magneto stimuli are applied to the material. Using novel interferometric fringe analysis software and a multi-stimuli-capable SOM test cell, the SOM characterization system enables a wide variety of materials — such as liquid crystals, nonlinear crystals, electro- and thermo-active polymer optics, and magneto- or piezo-driven optics — to be optically characterized for real-time changes in intensity, phase, and polarization. The versatility of the SOM test platform combined with the powerful, efficient, and user-friendly software interface makes it a valuable tool for the research or commercial development of smart materials.