MEMS Actuators for Aligning and Tuning Optical Microcavities on Atom Chips

In this report we present a micromachined three-dimensional electrostatic actuator as well as a one-dimensional electrostatic actuator both optimized for aligning and tuning optical micro cavities on atom chips. The 3D actuator has a working envelope of 17.5 mum in the chip plane which is used for mirror positioning and has a maximum translation of 7 mum in the out-of-plane direction for tuning the optical micro cavity. The ID actuator is capable of tuning and aligning the optical micro cavity in the chip plane simultaneously with a predicted working envelope of 20 mum. The designs of both actuators are outlined in detail, and their characteristics are verified by analytical calculations and finite element modelling. Furthermore, the fabrication processes of the actuation devices are described and preliminary fabrication results are shown.