Optical MEMS devices based on micromachined torsion structure

Abstract

Optical MEMS components with optical fiber inputs and outputs are the most important kinds of optical MEMS devices because of their applications in optical communication industry and fiber-optic sensors. Efficient optical coupling is the key to develop optical MEMS devices for optical communication and sensing, however, efficient coupling between MEMS actuators or sensing structures and optical fibers is a challenging job. Besides high performance MEMS actuators and coupling micro-optics are needed, the MEMS structures should adapt to coupling micro-optics. The torsion MEMS micro-mirrors and gratings can couple with fiber collimators at low insertion loss, therefore, the torsion MEMS structure is a good choice for optical MEMS devices, especially for continuous or multi-level controlled devices. In this paper, we report three kinds of optical MEMS devices based on silicon torsion micro structure, MEMS variable optical attenuator (VOA), 1×8 MEMS optical switch and high-speed MEMS torsion blazed grating , which have been developed recently in our optical MEMS research group. The three devices are coupled with optical fibers by optical fiber collimators, so low loss coupling can be achieved.