Electrowetting manipulation of any optical film

Electrowetting manipulation of any optical film is reported. A square channel was constructed with four sidewall electrodes, coated with a hydrophobic dielectric, and filled with saline and oil. In a first experiment a dielectric mirror film was suspended between the oil/saline meniscus. Electrowetting at each sidewall produced a saline contact angle change of 35°<θ<170°. This change in contact angle tilted the mirror and ±105° of laser beam deflection was achieved. A second experiment utilized a Mylar film imprinted with a diffraction grating (625lines∕mm). Electrowetting tilting of the grating was shown to alter the diffraction of the laser beam.