Micromotor grating optical switch

Abstract

We describe polysilicon micromotors with diffraction gratings fabricated on the polished surface of the polysilicon rotor for optical switching applications. The motors have rotor diameters of 0.5–2 mm with grating elements having periods of 1.80 and 3.86 μm. These microswitches have rise times of 300 μs and settling times of 500 μs when driven by a 65-V switching pulse. The diffractive nature of the optical elements allows for multiple optical outputs from a single input beam. Both static and dynamic optical properties of the gratings are tested with a He–Ne laser at 633 nm.