Silicon micromachines for lightwave networks: can little machines make it big?

Silicon micromechanics is an emerging field which is beginning to impact upon almost every area of science and technology. In areas as diverse as the chemical, automotive, aeronautical, cellular and optical communications industries, silicon micromachines are becoming the solution of choice for many problems. In this paper, we describe what they are, how they are built and show how they have the potential to revolutionize lightwave systems. Devices such as optical switches, variable attenuators, active equalizers, add/drop multiplexers, optical crossconnects, gain tilt equalizers, data transmitters and many others are beginning to find ubiquitous application in advanced lightwave systems. We show examples of these devices and describe some of the challenges in attacking the billions of dollars in addressable markets for this technology.