Assembled corner-cube retroreflector quadruplet

Author

Lixia Zhou ; Pister, K.S.J. ; Kahn, J.M.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. Eng. & Comput. Sci., California Univ., Berkeley, CA, USA

fYear

2002

fDate

24-24 Jan. 2002

Firstpage

556

Lastpage

559

Abstract

A MEMS corner-cube retroreflector (CCR) is presented. It is used as a free-space optical communication transmitter in the Smart Dust project. The optical and electrical properties are greatly improved as compared to CCRs fabricated previously in the MUMPS process. Improvements include a tenfold improvement in mirror curvature, a threefold reduction of mirror misalignment, a fivefold reduction of drive voltage, a tenfold increase in resonant frequency, and an improved scalability due to the quadruplet design.

Keywords

micro-optics; micromechanical resonators; mirrors; optical transmitters; silicon-on-insulator; MEMS corner-cube retroreflector; SOI technology; Smart Dust project; bottom mirror fabrication; drive voltage; electrical properties; free-space optical communication transmitter; mirror curvature; mirror misalignment; optical properties; quadruplet design; resonant frequency; scalability; Actuators; Assembly; Fasteners; Low voltage; Micromachining; Micromechanical devices; Mirrors; Optical device fabrication; Optical fiber communication; Optical transmitters;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Micro Electro Mechanical Systems, 2002. The Fifteenth IEEE International Conference on

Conference_Location

Las Vegas, NV, USA

ISSN

1084-6999

Print_ISBN

0-7803-7185-2

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/MEMSYS.2002.984332

Filename

984332