System, Method and Apparatus for a Micromachined Interferometer Using Optical Splitting

Description

A Mach-Zehnder MEMS interferometer is achieved using two half plane beam splitters formed at respective edges of a first medium. The first beam splitter is optically coupled to receive an incident beam and operates to split the incident beam into two beams, a first one propagating in the first medium towards the second beam splitter and a second one propagating in a second medium. A moveable mirror in the second medium reflects the second beam back towards the second beam splitter to cause interference of the two beams.

Aspects

The present invention relates in general to optical MEMS, and in particular, to micromachined interferometers. Embodiments of the present invention provide a Mach-Zehnder Micro Electro-Mechanical System (MEMS) interferometer. The Mach-Zehnder interferometer includes a first medium and a second medium different from and adjacent to the first medium. The first medium has a first edge forming a first half plane beam splitter and a second edge opposite to the first edge forming a second half plane beam splitter. The first half plane beam splitter is optically coupled to receive an incident beam and to split the incident beam into first and second beams. The first beam propagates in the first medium towards the second half plane beam splitter, while the second beam propagates in the second medium.

Patenting Status

Patent Granted

Status

Patented

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