Tunable inicrocavity filters and detectors

Abstract

The state of the art of III- V semiconductor based Micro-Opto-Mechanical Systems (MOEMS) is presented with a special emphasis on InP and related materials. It is shown that the MOEMS technology can enhance considerably the capabilities of optical micro-cavities, which are considered as a major component for optical signal processing and light generation. Illustrations of the potential of III- V MOEMS are given in the jields of Optical Telecommunications. Design and fabrication of highly selective and widely tunable optical filters for Wavelength Division Multiplexing Systems are presented. These devices are monolithic and are based on surface micro-machining technology. They combine a variety of very attractive properties such as low control power, low insertion loss, tunability, small bandwidth, no polarization dependence, simple jiber coupling, no memory efects and reasonable tuning speed. Future prospects implying the use of multiair-gap MOEMS structures as a basic building-block for a wide variety of routing photonic devices are proposed : tunable photodetectors are presented as an example.