一种新型的低成本、小体积的电磁驱动微机电系统可调光衰减器,可用于密集波分复用系统中各信道的动态增益平衡。该器件采用电磁线圈驱动绕100微轴转动的微反射镜,运动部件行程极小。驱动电压为0～8 V,工作范围0～35 dB,动态响应时间小于2 ms,插入损耗小于0.8 dB,回波损耗小于-50.5 dB。器件采用微细电火花加工技术制作,加工精度为微米量级,技术成熟,工艺简单,易于批量生产。采用有限元分析软件ANSYS对器件的结构建模,对电磁场及衰减曲线进行了理论分析,并与实测数据进行了比较,得出了相当满意的结果。

A novel variable optical attenuator based on micro-electromechanical system is reported. The variable optical attenuator employs a low-cost simple structure design, capable of fast dynamic response (<2 ms), wide dynamic range (0～35 dB), low return loss (<-50 dB) and wide bandwidth. By utilizing precise electrical-discharge machining as an enabling technology, the design incorporates an electro-magnetically actuated silicon mirror rotating around a 100 m shaft and a miniature driven coil. The attenuation response is compared with the calculated result from a numerical theoretical model by using ANSYS, a finite element analysis software package, and a reasonably good agreement was obtained. The variable optical attenuator is scalable to a discrete array to implement dense wavelength division multiplexing channel equalization in various networking devices.