A novel photothermal drive method was proposed. A novel photothermal micro-actuator （PTA） was developed with this method. We introduced the deflection mechanism of the asymmetric expansive arms with different widths. When a beam of infrared laser irradiates the arms, the different increase temperature and photothermal expansion controlled by the different rates of specific surface area cause a magnified lateral deflection. A prototyping micro-actuator of 1000 μm length was manufactured by using anexcimer laser micromachining system, and using polypropylene material. Experiments have been carded out to check the feasibility of deflection, with a laser diode （650 nm） as the external power source to activate the micro-actuator. The results show that the actuator can practically generate an obvious lateral deflection without considering the size or the location of the irradiated light spot strictly. The deflection status of the micro-actuator could be controlled remotely from 0 μm to 14.33 μm by changing the laser power from 0 mW to 10 mW. This kind of novel PTA is quite simple and convenient for operation. It will be quite useful for the applications in the fields of micro/nano-technology and with large displacement/actuation force and remote controlling.
We present a category of novel photothermal （PT） microactuators. Each microactuator consists of two PT arms that are jointed at the free end and connected to an anchor at the fixed end. When a laser beam irradiates one of the arms （called hot arm, and the other is cold arm）, light energy is absorbed and converted into heat. The asymmetric thermal expansion of the hot and cold arms results in lateral deflection. Based on conduction heat transfer theory and heat dissipation mechanism, we study the PT effects and establish the theoretical model of PT expansion for the microactuators. The temperature distribution and the linear thermal expansion can be numerically calculated. The analytical solution provides an insight into the operation of the actuators and predicts the performance of the actuators with new designs. A symmetry microactuator and a microswitch as the prototypes have been fabricated and tested. The experimental results are in good agreement with the theoretical predictions and prove the feasibility of the novel PT microactuators.
A novel atomic force microscope （AFM） for large samples to be measured in liquid is developed. An innovative laser beam tracking system is proposed to eliminate the tracking and feedback errors. The open probe design of the AFM makes the operation in liquid convenient and easy. A standard 1200-lines/mm grating and a sheet of filter paper axe imaged respectively in air and liquid to confirm its performance. The corrosion behavior of aluminum surface in 1-mol/L NaOH solution is further investigated by the AFM. Experimental results show that the system can realize wide range （20 × 20 （μm）） scanning for large samples both in air and liquid, while keeping nanometer order resolution in liquid by eliminating the tracking and feedback error.
