Abstract

The ability to integrate micro-optical elements with movable structures and microactuators has opened up many new opportunities for optical and optoelectronic systems. It allows us to manipulate optical beams more effectively than conventional methods, and is scalable to large optical systems. This new family of devices and systems is generally called Optical MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems) or Micro-Opto-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MOEMS)¹ MOEMS have applications in display, sensing, and optical data storage. Recently, telecommunications have become the market driver for MOEMS. Many different kinds of devices and systems have been reported, including optical switches, optical crossconnect^2,3, wavelength division add/drop multiplexers⁴, tunable filters/lasers/detectors⁵, dispersion compensators, and polarization dispersion compensators.

© 2000 IEEE