Mechanics of dielectric elastomer-activated deformable transmission grating

Laminating a thin layer of elastomeric grating on the surface of a prestretched dielectric elastomer (DE) membrane forms a basic design of electrically tunable transmission grating. We analyze the inhomogeneous deformation of a circular multiple-region configuration. Variation of the geometric and material parameters, as well as of the critical condition determined by loss of tension instability, is probed to aid the design of a DE-based deformable grating. The predicted changes in the grating period agree substantially with the experimental results reported by Aschwanden et al (Aschwanden et al 2007 IEEE Photon. Technol. Lett. 19 1090).