A new addressable corner micromirror array for free-space optical applications

We report on a novel addressable corner micromirror array for wide free-space optical applications. The corner mirror composed of two mutually orthogonal reflective surfaces, may reflect incident light beam at any angle back to its incoming direction. In this report the corner micromirror array are able to be batch fabricated. Each micromachined corner mirror is constituted by three elements: a vertical mirror, a movable horizontal mirror, and a bottom electrode. The corner micromirror is able to provide actuation on one of the reflective planes, causing destruction of preset orthogonal planes. Incorporated with a grating and other optical components, the new array may provide simultaneous wavelength selection in free space and switching function for wavelength as well as intensity. In such an appropriate optical system, the corner micromirror may alleviate alignment problems and simplify assembly procedure. As experimentally achieved, the comer micromirror array may have the potential on an external-cavity tunable semiconductor laser, optical add/drop multiplexing, dual wavelength of interferometry or other applications.