Microelectromechanically actuated deformable optical beam steering for wavelength tunable optical sources, filters, and detectors

An optical device comprising:

• a substrate having formed upon it a layer structure comprising a plurality of layers;
• a deformable structure formed within a first predetermined portion of the layer structure contiguous and continuous between a second predetermined portion of the layer structure at a first predetermined location on the substrate and a third predetermined portion of the layer structure at a second predetermined location on the substrate;
• and
• an optical component formed within a first subset of the third predetermined portion of the layer structure in a third predetermined location on the substrate;
• wherein
• each of the first predetermined portion of the layer structure, the second predetermined portion of the layer structure and the third predetermined portion of the layer structure support propagation of optical signals within a predetermined wavelength range;
• deformation of the deformable structure results in the optical signals propagating within the deformable structure coupling to the optical component with at least one of a different orientation and a different position to that when the deformable structure is undeformed;
• the optical component properties are dependent on at least one of the orientation and position of the optical signals coupled to it.