A microelectromechanical (MEM) optical switching apparatus is disclosed that
is
based on an erectable mirror which is formed on a rotatable stage using surface
micromachining. An electrostatic actuator is also formed on the substrate to rotate
the stage and mirror with a high angular precision. The mirror can be erected manually
after fabrication of the device and used to redirect an incident light beam at
an arbitrary angel and to maintain this state in the absence of any applied electrical
power. A 1N optical switch can be formed using a single rotatable mirror.
In some embodiments of the present invention, a plurality of rotatable mirrors
can be configured so that the stages and mirrors rotate in unison when driven by
a single micromotor thereby forming a 22 optical switch which can be used
to switch a pair of incident light beams, or as a building block to form a higher-order
optical switch.
