Dicon Fiberoptics, Inc.

Peter T Jones

Ho-Shang Lee

Benedict Costello

Nathan Shou

Alex Birman

Stephen Chai

An electrostatic actuator with inter-digital rotor and stator fingers formed in a the insulating and conductive layers of a wafer. The actuator is used to drive MicroElectroMechanical (MEMS) components, specifically micro-optical components such as mirrors, attenuators, switches, and tunable filters.

Electrostatic control of micro-optical components

The optical switch includes input optical fibers, output optical fibers, a lens, a movable mirror, and an actuator operative to move the mirror. Depending on a voltage applied to the actuator, the actuator selectively set the mirror to a first position corresponding to a first combination of optical paths, through which the light beam travels from the first set of the input optical fibers to the second set of the output optical fibers; and to a second position corresponding to a second combination of optical paths, through which the light beam travels from the first set to the second set. The first combination is different from the second combination, and a number of optical fibers of the first set and the second set is more than two.

Optical switch

A variable attenuator employs a shutter element that is inserted into the path of a beam of radiation. The shutter element comprises a transparent substrate with an opaque layer formed on top of the substrate. The opaque layer forms a pattern in the shape of dots on one part of the substrate and in the shape of a solid layer with holes therein on another part of the substrate. The pattern of holes and dots are such that the radiation transmission function of the element varies as a smooth linear function with the length of the shutter element. Therefore, by inserting the shutter element in a direction along its length into the path of the radiation beam, the amount of attenuation of the beam can be accurately controlled.

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Albany, CA, United States of America

Peter T Jones