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

Abstract

Wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) has enabled telecommunication service providers to fully exploit the transmission capacity of optical fibers. State of the art systems in long-haul networks now have aggregated capacities of terabits per second. Moreover, by providing multiple independent multi-gigabit channels, WDM technologies offer service providers with a straight forward way to build networks and expand networks to support multiple clients with different requirements. In order to reduce costs, enhance network flexibility, reduce spares, and provide re-configurability many service providers have migrated away from fixed wavelength transmitters, receivers, and transceivers, to wavelength tunable transmitters, receivers, and transceivers as well as wavelength dependent add-drop multiplexer, space switches etc. However, to meet the competing demands for improved performance, increased integration, reduced footprint, reduced power consumption, increased flexibility, re-configurability, and lower cost it is desirable to exploit/adopt monolithic optical circuit technologies, hybrid optoelectronic integration, and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS).