A Hybrid-Assembled MEMS Fabry-Perot Wavelength Tunable Filter

We have developed a wavelength-tunable fiber optic filter of superior performance by using a hybrid-assembly technique of glass reflector cubes (1 mm³) onto a bulk-micromachined electrostatic translation stage (4 mm times 5 mm). More than 3-micron-change of the Fabry-Perot interferometer gap could be electrostatically controlled with a tuning voltage upwards of 5 V with the aid of a DC bias voltage of 70 V. A wide tuning range from 1479 nm to 1579 nm was achieved with preliminary results of a 2.6 ~ 2.9 nm bandwidth and a 6.6 dB insertion loss.