A 5-volt operated MEMS variable optical attenuator

Author

Toshiyoshi, H. ; Isamoto, K. ; Morosawa, A. ; Tei, M. ; Fujita, H.

Author_Institution

Inst. of Ind. Sci., Tokyo Univ., Japan

Volume

2

fYear

2003

Firstpage

1768

Abstract

We report a micro mechanical variable optical attenuator (VOA) using an electrostatic micro torsion mirror combined with a fiber-optic collimator. The VOA operates at low voltages (DC 5 V or less) for large optical attenuation (40 dB) and fast response time (5 ms or faster). The mirror has been designed to be shock-resistive up to 100 G without causing operation error and up to 500G without any mechanical failure. We also have suppressed temperature dependence of VOA´s optical performance by mechanically decoupling the parasitic bimorph effect from the electrostatic operation.

Keywords

micromechanical devices; micromirrors; optical attenuators; 40 dB; 5 V; 5 ms; MEMS variable optical attenuator; electrostatic micro torsion mirror; electrostatic operation; fiber-optic collimator; mechanically decoupling; micromechanical variable optical attenuator; optical attenuation; parasitic bimorph effect; Actuators; Electrostatics; Fabrication; Low voltage; Micromechanical devices; Mirrors; Optical attenuators; Optical collimators; Optical fiber polarization; Optical interferometry;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

TRANSDUCERS, Solid-State Sensors, Actuators and Microsystems, 12th International Conference on, 2003

Conference_Location

Boston, MA, USA

Print_ISBN

0-7803-7731-1

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/SENSOR.2003.1217128

Filename

1217128