Toward the Development of Hybrid MEMS Tunable Optical Filters and Lasers

There is strong interest in the development of tunable lasers and optical filters for a number of optoelectronic applications. From a telecommunications standpoint, compact, efficient, and affordable tunable sources and filters could find immediate widespread use for wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) systems, enabling incredibly dense optoelectronic communications over a single optical fiber. From a military standpoint, robust tunable sources would readily be inserted into platforms requiring fixed-wavelength optical pumps (such as for fiber amplifiers or atomic clock systems) or for hyperspectral imaging systems that require stable, pixilated filter elements.