Thermal driven mems tunable filter
AssigneeAgiltron, Inc.
InventorsGuanghai Jin, Congshun Wang, Luzhong Yin, Jing Zhao
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Abstract
A microelectrical mechanical system (MEMS) implementation of tunable Fabry Perot filter devices is disclosed. The advantages associated with the use of these tunable etalons include increases in aperture size, displacement, reliability, and a reduction in cost. In some examples, integrated tunable detectors in miniature spectrometers using a thermal driven MEMS Fabry-Perot tunable filter are provided. Other examples use integrated thermal driven tunable MEMS Fabry-Perot filter to select fiber optical communication channel.
Claims19
A tunable etalon filter device, comprising:
- a substrate mirror secured to a substrate and a top mirror forming an optical cavity therebetween;
- at least two electrically conductive silicon beams, each comprising:
- a center section, the entire center section having a first thickness;
- two end sections separated by the center section, the entire thickness of each end section being a second thickness less than the first thickness, and each end section being fixed to the substrate with an elevated supporting post;
- and
- a bridge connecting the center section with the top mirror;
- wherein each silicon beam and the connected top mirror moves in a direction perpendicular to the substrate upon passing an electrical current through the electrically conductive silicon beam.
(canceled)
An optical spectrometer, comprising:
- a tunable etalon filter device, comprising:
- a substrate mirror secured to a substrate and a top mirror forming an optical cavity therebetween;
- and
- at least two electrically conductive silicon beams, each comprising:
- a center section, the entire center section having a first thickness;
- two end sections separated by the center section, the entire thickness of each end section being a second thickness less than the first thickness, and each end section being fixed to the substrate with an elevated supporting post;
- and
- a bridge connecting the center section with the top mirror;
- wherein each silicon beam and the connected top mirror moves in a direction perpendicular to the substrate upon passing an electrical current through the electrically conductive silicon beam;
- and
- a photo detector optically coupled with the etalon tunable etalon filter device.
A fiber optical wavelength division multiplexer, comprising:
- two fiber collimators;
- and
- an tunable etalon filter device optically coupled between the two fiber collimators, the tunable etalon filter device comprising:
- a substrate mirror secured to a substrate and a top mirror forming an optical cavity therebetween;
- and
- at least two electrically conductive silicon beams, each comprising:
- a center section, the entire center section having a first thickness;
- two end sections separated by the center section, the entire thickness of each end section being a second thickness less than the first thickness, and each end section being fixed to the substrate with an elevated supporting post;
- and
- a bridge connecting the center section with the top mirror;
- wherein each silicon beam and the connected top mirror moves in a direction perpendicular to the substrate upon passing an electrical current through the electrically conductive silicon beam.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.