Of light, of MEMS: Optical MEMS in telecommunications and beyond

Abstract

The burst of the Internet bubble in 2000 has severely quenched the pace of development in the optical MEMS field. However, it is now clear that this field is again set to move forward as not only telecommunication but many other industries are benefiting from its application. We describe in this paper some of our latest achievements in the field, showing a new type of small scale optical switch based on integrated optics, a vibration/acceleration sensor using a veryshort external cavity laser and finally, the early development result of a nano-scale tunable photonic crystal that could be used for beam steering. The diversity of the applications we demonstrate, is a clear testimony that there is indeed 'plenty of room at the bottom'-and particularly in the natural combination of Light and MEMS!. © Printed in India.