MEMS tunable silicon fabry-perot cavity and applications thereof

A method for tuning a Fabry-Perot cavity having two reflectors formed into a substrate and separated by an air gap having a thickness, wherein one of the two reflectors is mobile and wherein the method comprises:

• forming an electrostatic mechanism in the substrate;
• connecting the electrostatic mechanism to the mobile reflector;
• and
• operating the electrostatic mechanism to move the mobile reflector connected thereto;
• wherein moving the mobile reflector connected to the electrostatic mechanism changes the thickness of the air gap and thereby tune the Fabry-Perot cavity.

A tunable Fabry-Perot cavity comprising:

• a substrate;
• two reflectors formed in the substrate and separated by an air gap having a thickness, wherein one of the two reflectors is mobile;
• and
• an electrostatic mechanism formed in the substrate and connected to the mobile reflector;
• wherein the mobile reflector connected to the electrostatic mechanism is moved upon operation of the electrostatic mechanism to change the thickness of the air gap and thereby tune the Fabry-Perot cavity.

A tunable doped fiber laser, for generating laser at different wavelengths, comprising:

• a laser source;
• a doped fiber connected to the laser source;
• and
• a tunable Fabry-Perot cavity including (a) a substrate;
• (b) two reflectors formed in the substrate and separated by an air gap having a thickness, wherein one of the two reflectors is mobile;
• and (c) an electrostatic mechanism formed in the substrate and connected to the mobile reflector, wherein the mobile reflector connected to an electrostatic mechanism is moved upon operation of the electrostatic mechanism to change the thickness of the air gap and thereby tune the Fabry-Perot cavity, the tunable Fabry-Perot cavity being connected to the doped fiber;
• wherein tuning the tunable Fabry-Perot cavity allows for selecting different laser wavelengths.

A tunable dispersion compensator for adjusting a group delay experienced by light when propagating through an optical fiber, the tunable dispersion compensator comprising:

• a tunable Gires-Tournois cavity comprising two reflectors separated by an air gap, wherein one of the two reflectors is mobile and a mechanism is connected to the mobile reflector to move the mobile reflector;
• and
• a waveguide positioned between the two reflectors;
• wherein moving the mobile reflector modulates a reflectivity of the tunable Gires-Tournois cavity and thereby adjust the group delay.

An integrated microfluidic refractometer for measuring a refractive index of a fluid including at least one of a liquid and a gas, the refractometer comprising:

• a Fabry-Perot cavity;
• and
• a microfluidic channel, connected to the Fabry-Perot cavity, for carrying the fluid to the Fabry-Perot cavity;
• wherein the Fabry-Perot cavity detects a shift of wavelength corresponding to a variation of the refractive index when the fluid passes through the Fabry-Perot cavity.

An optical attenuator for attenuating light transmission, comprising:

• a substrate;
• two reflectors formed in the substrate and separated by an air gap, wherein one of the two reflectors comprises an inner wall, a central wall and an outer wall separated from each other by other air gaps having respective thicknesses, and wherein the central wall is mobile;
• and
• an electrostatic mechanism formed in the substrate and connected to the mobile wall;
• wherein the mobile wall connected to the electrostatic mechanism is moved upon operation of the electrostatic mechanism to change the thicknesses of said other air gaps and thereby change reflectivity in the optical attenuator and attenuate light transmission through the optical the attenuator.