Analysis and optimization of a novel laterally deformable optical NEMS grating transducer

This paper discusses the analysis and optimization of a novel optomechanical structure based on a Wood’s type anomaly, in which tiny changes in the spacing of the nanostructured grating elements lead to a dramatic increase or decrease of the optical reflection amplitude. With this special feature, this structure is an ideal sensor component to observe very small amount of relative motion. This device is very sensitive to light source wavelength, the period and the width of the grating. Here, we analyze the performance of the structure with different parameters and incident light of different wavelengths through 3-D Finite Difference Time Domain method (FDTD). Simulation gives out the respective influence of those parameters and the optimized structure designs for different wavelengths which are most possible to fabricate with current surface micromachining processing similar to that used for the fabrication of polysilicon MEMS. The calculated data enables us to apply the structure into fields required for different sensitivities and dynamic ranges with different grating designs and thus broadens the further usage of such novel structure.

[1]  Y. Rahmat-Samii,et al.  Particle swarm optimization in electromagnetics , 2004, IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation.

[2]  R. W. Wood,et al.  Anomalous Diffraction Gratings , 1935 .

[3]  Elijah Polak,et al.  Optimization: Algorithms and Consistent Approximations , 1997 .

[4]  James Pond,et al.  Virtual prototyping and optimization of novel solar cell designs , 2010, Photonics North.

[5]  John P. Sullivan,et al.  Measurement of a laterally deformable optical MEMS grating transducer , 2004, SPIE MOEMS-MEMS.

[6]  T. Friedmann,et al.  Laterally deformable nanomechanical zeroth-order gratings: anomalous diffraction studied by rigorous coupled-wave analysis. , 2003, Optics letters.

[7]  Raymond L. Watrous.  Learning Algorithms for Connectionist Networks: Applied Gradient Methods of Nonlinear Optimization , 1988 .

[8]  Olof Bryngdahl,et al.  Occurrence of resonance anomalies for index modulated gratings , 1997 .

[9]  Gregory R. Bogart,et al.  Laterally deformable optical NEMS grating transducers for inertial sensing applications , 2005, SPIE Optics East.

[10]  Mordecai Avriel,et al.  Nonlinear programming , 1976 .

[11]  Jan A Snyman,et al.  Practical Mathematical Optimization: An Introduction to Basic Optimization Theory and Classical and New Gradient-Based Algorithms , 2005 .

[12]  Zh Wang,et al.  The correction of short-range Mie scattering laser lidar returns based on the Gaussian character of laser beam , 2006 .

[13]  Li Feng,et al.  Experimental study of the generation of Laguerre-Gaussian beam using a computer-generated amplitude grating , 2008 .

[14]  A. A. Oliner,et al.  A New Theory of Wood’s Anomalies on Optical Gratings , 1965 .

[15]  Michael N. Vrahatis,et al.  Particle Swarm Optimization and Intelligence: Advances and Applications , 2010 .

[16]  R. Magnusson,et al.  New principle for optical filters , 1992 .

[17]  Bianca E. N. Keeler,et al.  Experimental demonstration of a laterally deformable optical nanoelectromechanical system grating transducer. , 2004, Optics letters.

[18]  Bin Yang,et al.  High speed laser scanning using MEMS driven in-plane vibratory grating: Design, modeling and fabrication , 2009 .