Abstract: This paper reports on the design,fabrication,and performance of a high-reflectivity large-rotation mirror array for MEMS (micro-electro-mechanical system) 16×16 optical switches.The mirror in the array can enlarge its rotation angles up to 90. and keep a steady state to steer the optical signal.According to the large-rotation behavior,an electro-mechanical model of the mirror is presented.By monolithic integration of fiber grooves and mirrors fabricated by a surface and bulk hybrid micromachining process,the coarse passive alignment of fiber-mirror-fiber can be achieved.The reflectivity of the mirror is measured to be 93.1%~96.3%.The switches demonstrate that the smallest fiber-mirror-fiber insertion loss is 2.1dB using OptiFocusTM collimating lensed fibers.Moreover,only about ±0.01dB oscillating amplitude of insertion loss is provoked after the device is tested for 15min for 5~90Hz in the vertical vibration amplitude of 3mm.

Key words: optical switch, micro-mirror array, large rotation, electrostatic actuation, MEMS