Piezoelectrically pushed rotational micromirrors for wide-angle optical switch applications

This paper presents a torsional micromirror detached from piezoelectric actuators (TMD) for wide-angle optical crossconnect applications. The torsional micromirror is actuated by the PZT push bars, detached from the mirror. The push bar mechanism is intended to reduce the bending, tensile and torsional constraints generated by the conventional bending bar mechanism, where the torsional micromirror is attached to the piezoelectric bending actuators (TMA). We have designed, fabricated and tested prototypes of TMDs for single-axis and dual-axis rotation, respectively. The single-axis TMD generates the static rotational angle of 6.1° at 16 Vdc, which is 6 times larger than that of single-axis TMA, 0.9°, and shows linear voltage-angle characteristics. The dual-axis TMD generates the static rotational angles of 5.5° and 4.7° in x-axis and y-axis, respectively at 16 Vdc.