Low voltage micro-mirror array light beam switch

摘要

A micro-optical light beam switch comprises a MEMS (Micro-Electromechanical Systems) mirror array with packaged CMOS driving circuitry. Each movable mirror is coupled to orthogonal pairs of thin unimorph PZT capacitor actuators about peripheral mirror portions for precise positional accuracy in two dimensions by the application of mirror tilt control voltages of 5 volts or less to the actuators. Each cantilevered actuator is individually controllable, allowing multi-axial movement of each mirror via simple flexible stress reducing hinging tab elements for the precise redirection of an incoming light beam to the appropriate targeted location, such as the direction of optical traffic throughout a fiber optic network.