Electrochromic

Electrochromic materials undergo pigment changes and color shifts by redox reactions in an electrochemical cell. By applying a small voltage and current, these cells can switch from transparent to pigmented, for example white or black. There is a wide range of materials and behaviors.

Mass produced examples include car mirrors and window light shutters for thermal control and privacy. The 787 Dreamliner passenger windows are electrochromically adjustable from clear to black.

Adjusting reflectivity changes light pressure. Changing from transparent to a perfect Lambertian white reflector changes the on-axis light pressure from 0 to ( 1 + 1/π ) ( P/c ). Off axis sideways thrust is proportional to sin( 2 θ ) , with a contribution from incident light but none from the reflective light.

Transition metal electrochromics can shift all the way from transparent to a mirror. The light pressure is 50% higher, and the off-axis sideways thrust from the mirror doubles.

Here is an Lawrence Berkeley Lab video of a transition metal electrochromic window in action. I do not know how close this material is to deployment, but more traditional electrochromics are still usable for server sky.

An expensive component of electrochromic devices (and solar cells) is the Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) transparent electrode. Billions of square meters of electrode can use millions of tons of indium; it may be possible to use lensing and strips to slightly focus the light away from narrow, opaque metal electrodes, allowing ultrathin, high sheet resistance ITO electrodes, which conduct laterally only a few micrometers. While this would be unacceptable for displays and windows, it would benefit solar cells and light shutters, especially combined with reflection-reducing surface treatments. The solar light source is collimated to half a degree, and we can take advantage of this.