Energy-Autonomous Adaptive Photonics Using Photoresponsive Hydrogel Soft Lenses

Nontechnical Description: Biological vision systems can adapt rapidly and efficiently to changing environments while remaining compact, compliant, and energy efficient. In contrast, many artificial tunable optical systems still rely on rigid mechanical components, fluidic actuation, high voltages, or external power sources, thereby limiting their use in autonomous, flexible, and environmentally robust technologies. This project will develop a new class of adaptive soft lenses that use light itself as both the control signal and the energy source. By combining soft materials, photonics, and bioinspired design, the project aims to create optical systems that can autonomously adjust focus, steer images, and regulate optical response without motors, electronics, or fluidic interfaces. The project addresses fundamental challenges in adaptive optics, soft robotics, and bioinspired photonic systems by establishing materials and device principles for energy-autonomous optical control. Successful outcomes will advance the national interest by promoting the progress of science and engineering, supporting future technologies in imaging, robotics, artificial vision, sensing, and biomedical optics, and contributing to the development of compact, low-power optical devices. The project will also strengthen education and workforce development through interdisciplinary training at the interface of materials science, photonics, bioengineering, and robotics. Educational and outreach activities will broaden participation in STEM by engaging students, integrating research into problem-based learning, supporting school-laboratory interactions, and developing biophotonics education programs for diverse learners. Technical Description: The objective of this project is to develop and deploy photo-responsive hydrogel soft lenses, a new class of all-optical, all-solid, bioinspired tunable optical devices. These lenses will integrate photoresponsive hydrogel actuators with elastomeric optical components to enable autonomous focal tuning, wavefront modulation, and image steering. The central concept is that optical energy can serve simultaneously as the stimulus and the power source for actuation, thereby eliminating the need for electronic drivers, mechanical translation stages, motors, or fluidic actuation. This approach provides a pathway toward compact, scalable, low-power, and mechanically compliant adaptive photonic systems. The research will pursue three integrated aims: First, the project will establish a predictive foundational model that links light absorption, hydrogel response, mechanical deformation, and optical performance. This model will guide the design of hydrogel-lens architectures capable of controlled focal adjustment and wavefront shaping. Second, the project will develop scalable, robust fabrication and integration workflows to construct all-solid soft lenses that combine photoresponsive hydrogels with elastomeric optical elements. These efforts will address device reliability, optical quality, environmental robustness, and compatibility with adaptive imaging platforms. Third, the project will realize intelligent, closed-loop adaptive operation by demonstrating self-regulated optical responses, including autonomous focus control and image steering under variable illumination conditions. The expected contribution is a materials-driven framework for energy-autonomous adaptive optics that bridges soft-matter engineering, photonics, biomaterials, and soft robotics. By demonstrating electronics-free and light-powered tunability in compact soft lenses, the project will establish new design principles for programmable optical systems and expand the capabilities of bioinspired imaging and artificial vision technologies. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.