Thermally tunable optical thin-film filters with sub-nanometer resolution and 41.7 nm continuous tuning range

Author

Hohlfeld, Dennis ; Zappe, Hans

Author_Institution

IMTEK - Inst. of Microsystem Technol., Freiburg Univ., Germany

fYear

2005

fDate

30 Jan.-3 Feb. 2005

Firstpage

100

Lastpage

103

Abstract

A MEMS-based, tunable optical filter with a transmission linewidth of 0.28 nm, continuously tu nable over a spectral range of 41.7 nm, is presented. The thin film interference filter employs a solid-state silicon cavity and silicon-based distributed Bragg reflectors (DBR). Tuning is achieved by varying the optical resonator thickness through thermal modulation. The filter is configured as a membrane and operates up to a temperature of 450 °C. Such a filter is essential for monitoring and reconfiguration of optical data communication networks and is also applicable for gas sensing.

Keywords

distributed Bragg reflectors; interference filters; optical communication; optical films; optical resonators; optical tuning; 41.7 nm; 450 C; MEMS-based optical filter; distributed Bragg reflectors; gas sensing; optical data communication networks; optical resonator thickness; solid-state silicon cavity; thermal modulation; thermally tunable optical filter; thin film interference filter; Distributed Bragg reflectors; Interference; Optical films; Optical filters; Optical resonators; Optical tuning; Resonator filters; Semiconductor thin films; Silicon; Solid state circuits;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Micro Electro Mechanical Systems, 2005. MEMS 2005. 18th IEEE International Conference on

ISSN

1084-6999

Print_ISBN

0-7803-8732-5

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/MEMSYS.2005.1453877

Filename

1453877