Researchers from the Faculty of Physics of the University of Warsaw (UW) together with other researchers from Poland and China presented a light-driven micromotor.

The moving motor element, i.e. the polymer ring, is driven and controlled by a laser beam. By replacing many engine components with one complex element, the new solution will answer to the needs of the miniaturized modern technology.

The rotating motor ring has a diameter of 5 mm and is made of liquid crystal elastomer (LCE). It is a material for constructing small, mobile devices.

The new device is the result of the work of scientists from Poland and China including staff and PhD students of the Faculty of Physics of the University of Warsaw, researchers from the Faculty of Mathematics of the University of Suzhou in China, the Institute of Technical Physics of the Military University of Technology in Warsaw and the Center of Polymer and Carbon Materials of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Zabrze.