Low-Voltage Driven MEMS VOA Using Torsional Attenuation Mechanism Based on Piezoelectric Beam Actuators

Author

Koh, Kah How ; Kobayashi, Takeshi ; Lee, Chengkuo

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Nat. Univ. of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

Volume

22

Issue

18

fYear

2010

Firstpage

1355

Lastpage

1357

Abstract

A gold-coated silicon mirror (5 mm × 5 mm) driven by a piezoelectric Pb(Zr,Ti)O₃ (PZT) beam with 1 × 10 cantilever actuators has been demonstrated for variable optical attenuator application. A dual-core-fiber collimator is aligned perpendicularly to the mirror in a three-dimensional light attenuation arrangement. Torsional attenuation based on the difference in the dc biasing voltage applied to the ten piezoelectric cantilevers was investigated. The attenuation curve under dc bias follows that of a Gaussian distribution, with dynamic attenuation range of 40 dB achieved at 1.8 V.

Keywords

Gaussian distribution; cantilevers; lead; micro-optics; microactuators; optical attenuators; optical collimators; piezoelectric actuators; silicon; 3D light attenuation arrangement; Gaussian distribution; MEMS VOA; cantilever actuators; dual-core-fiber collimator; piezoelectric beam actuators; piezoelectric cantilevers; torsional attenuation; variable optical attenuator; voltage 1.8 V; Attenuation; Gaussian distribution; Micromechanical devices; Mirrors; Optical attenuators; Optical collimators; Piezoelectric actuators; Silicon; Structural beams; Voltage; $hbox{Pb}(hbox{Zr},hbox{Ti})hbox{O}_{3}$ (PZT); Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS); mirror; optical MEMS; piezoelectric Actuator; variable optical attenuator (VOA);

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Photonics Technology Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1041-1135

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/LPT.2010.2056679

Filename

5510091