MicroJoinery: micromachined translational stages for optomechanical devices and systems

A new microfabrication enabling technology for the design and realization of miniature 1×n and n×m fiber optic switches, x, xy and xyz translational stages, scanners, fiber to fiber couplers, and fiber to waveguide couplers is presented. This technology, MicroJoinery, is based on scaled down versions of macro joints (i.e. “dovetail” and “dado” joints) and offers significant improvements over present micro-optical and micro-photonic devices. We have fabricated 200 μm to 8 cm translational stages in silicon for use in beam steering and fiber optic switching applications. In this paper we introduce MicroJoinery and present the characterization of a 1×4 micromechanical fiber optical switch using this new technology. These un-optimized devices showed switching times <5 ms with <-1 dB loss