The paper deals with optical microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), and in particular with optical MEMS based on moving waveguides. After a short overview of this very attractive novel activity, specific technological problems and solutions are discussed. Then the following examples of recent developments based on silica on silicon technology are presented: optical switch, vibration sensor, and...

In this paper, a robust PID control scheme is proposed for Micro-Electro-Mechanical-Systems (MEMS) optical switches. The proposed approach is designed in a way which solves two challenging and important problems. The first one is successful reference tracking and the second is mitigating the system nonlinearities. The overall system composed of nonlinear MEMS dynamics and the PID controller is ...

In this paper, a robust PID control scheme is proposed for Micro-Electro-Mechanical-Systems (MEMS) optical switches. The proposed approach is designed in a way which solves two challenging and important problems. The first one is successful reference tracking and the second is mitigating the system nonlinearities. The overall system composed of nonlinear MEMS dynamics and the PID controller is ...

MEMS technology offers some unique product opportunities for optical networking applications. One of the critical factors that determine the commercial success of any optical MEMS components is the cost for packaging and optical fiber alignment. Small form factor MEMS components such as protection switches and variable optical attenuators require the integration of optical fibers and lenses wit...

Next-generation wavelength routing optical networks requiring optical cross connects (OXC) in the network have the ability to direct optical signals from any input interface to suitable output interfaces by configuring their internal embedded optical switch matrices. Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) switches are regarded as the most promising technology to achieve such functionality. We co...

We describe a novel type of MEMS optical switch 4 based on moving waveguide which has merits inherited from 5 both MEMS and integrated optics technologies. It provides an 6 expandable 2 × 2 switching capability, a first in this category of 7 switches. The switch is built by assembling independently opti8 mized latching silicon actuator and soft polymer waveguides. The 9 actuator is based on two...

We describe a modular MEMS based optical cross-connect switch. Each module has 16portF with closed-loop servo-controlled mirrors. We hove achieved switching times of < I O ms, ercellent optical power stabilig, and immunity to stochastic vibrations.