A light-in light-out micro mirror device

Abstract

In this paper, we report a new concept of optical MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical System) devices that could be operated by the incident light and to operate yet another light beam; in other words, a light beam is controlled by another light beam through an optical MEMS mirror. A photodiode and an electrostatic micro mirror are integrated into an SOI (silicon-on-insulator) wafer, whose circuit diagram is equivalent to that of a photocoupler. The mechanism can be used for free-space optical computing and optically-addressed fiber optic crossconnect.