Hybrid Micro-Electro-Mechanically Tunable Optical Filter

Potential applications include optical communications, detection of chemicals, signal processing, and sensing.

A prototype hybrid micro-electro-mechanically tunable optical filter (MEM-TF) based partly on an electrostatic-actuation principle has been built and tested as an essential component needed for the further development of a prototype micro-electro-mechanically tunable vertical-cavity surface emitting laser (MT-VCSEL). In turn, MT-VCSELs are needed as essential controllable-wavelength sources in diverse advanced optoelectronic devices and systems including, for example, wavelength-division multiplexers in fiber-optic communication systems; lightweight, compact, portable spectroscopic instruments for detecting chemical and biological warfare agents; holographic memory devices; fiber-optic sensors; optoelectronic signal-processing systems; and remote-sensing systems. The development of the prototype MEM-TF also has additional significance in that it demonstrates the merit of the hybrid approach (in comparison with the monolithic-integration approach) to design and fabrication of some advanced optoelectronic devices.