Organic amorphous fluoropolymer membrane for variable optical attenuator applications
Journal
Journal of Optics A: Pure and Applied Optics
Journal Volume
8
Journal Issue
7
Date Issued
2006
Author(s)
Abstract
The paper describes the design, fabrication and testing of a MEMS (micro-electro-mechanical systems) variable optical attenuator (VOA) made from an organic fluoropolymer thin film. The optical attenuation is achieved by changing the radius of curvature of the organic thin film by actuating a pneumatic force. The size of the organic polymer membrane is 4mm × 4mm and the measured centre displacement of the organic membrane is as large as 57νm without any plastic deformation. The mechanical deformation of the fluoropolymer membrane can be simulated by finite element method (FEM) and the optical coupling efficiency is calculated based on the coherent optical transfer function (OTF) of the deformed membrane. The experimental results show that the attenuation range can achieve 25dB at the wavelength of 1550nm, which agrees well with the theoretical calculation. The measured wavelength dependence loss is less than 0.5dB. © 2006 IOP Publishing Ltd.
Type
journal article