Variable optical attenuator using linear micro-actuators

A variable optical attenuator (VOA) is a tunable device that can control the amount of the attenuation of the laser power in the optical communication systems. We proposed a new construction of the VOA composed of lenses and fibers and micro-actuators, which are very simple and easy to assemble. By the constructed devices, the good optical characteristics such as an insertion loss, a wavelength dependency and dynamic range are confirmed experimentally.