A micromechanical optical switch with a zone-plate reflector

It is proposed that standard micromechanical structures, such as torsional plates, cantilevers, doubly supported beams and drumheads, can be fitted with zone-plate reflectors to form low-loss, high-contact and high-speed optical switches. Such devices have many potential uses, including fibre-to-the-home applications. This paper focuses on the calculated properties of zone plates for plane-wave, point and Gaussian beam sources.