Multilevel electro-mechanical grating device and a method for operating a multilevel mechanical and electro-mechanical grating device

摘要

A method for operating an electro-mechanical grating device comprises the steps of:providing a beam of light;applying a first electrostatic actuation force for a certain amount of time thereby generating a first pattern in each group wherein the pattern comprises N different levels thereby diffracting the incident light beam into a first direction; andapplying a second electrostatic actuation force for a certain amount of time thereby generating a second pattern in each group wherein the second pattern comprises N different levels thereby diffracting the incident light beam into a second direction different from the first direction.The electro-mechanical grating device has a plurality of spaced apart deformable ribbon elements disposed parallel to each other in the unactuated state and spanning a channel. The deformable ribbon elements are organized in groups of N elements wherein N is greater than 2. A plurality of standoffs are provided, wherein according to the longitudinal direction of the electro-mechanical grating device at least N-2 standoffs are associated with each group.