Dye-Doped Polymers as Emergent Materials
Mark G. Kuzyk
Life is believed to have arisen through a process of emergence, where molecules came together to make a functioning complex system that greatly exceeds the sum of its parts. In this paper, we use this analogy to describe how all-optical ultra-smart systems may be able to be deliberately built from smart functional materials that are powered by light and change shape intelligently.
Keywords: Photomechanical effects, polymer optical fiber, photomechanical optics devices, PODs, emergence, Bragg gratings, optical feedback, optical circuits, position sensors