Electromechanical optical switching and modulation in micromachined silicon-on-insulator waveguides

Novel monolithic waveguide structures have been proposed for optical modulation, switching, and opto-mechanical transduction using silicon-on-insulator technology. With etched well techniques, the silicon core of a silicon-on-silicon dioxide channel waveguide is formed into active optical devices, which use mechanical deflection to alter the guided wave. Two basic devices, the microcantilever beam and the microbridge, have been modeled and analyzed. A theoretical evaluation of the voltage-controlled optical modulation and switching properties of these two devices is presented