Research on the Electrooptical Effect of ER Fluids

Abstract

An investigation was made to observe the electrooptical effect of ER fluids prepared with starch and silicon oil through experiments, in which the transmitted light intensity of ER fluid samples with different concentration were measured under varying external electric field. The results show that the detected photocurrent increases first and then decreases with the increasing of electric field; the sample with higher concentration reaching the peak value of photocurrent requires a lower external electric field, but it has an opposite effect for the sample with lower concentration. The electric field has better tunability for the refractive index of sample with lower concentration than for that with higher concentration.