TY - JOUR
T1 - Optical actuation of a bistable MEMS
AU - Sulfridge, Marc
AU - Saif, Taher
AU - Miller, Norman
AU - O'Hara, Keith
N1 - Funding Information:
Manuscript received October 24, 2001; revised February 15, 2002. This work was supported by NSF Grant ECS 0083155. The work of K. O’Hara was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Division of Materials Science, under Grant DEFG 02-91ER45439. Subject Editor T. Kenny.
PY - 2002/10
Y1 - 2002/10
N2 - This paper presents an optical actuation scheme for MEMS devices based on the well-established fact that light possesses momentum, and hence, imparts a force equal to 2W/c when reflected by a surface. Here, W is the total power of the reflected light, and c is the speed of light. Radiation pressure, as it is known, is nearly insignificant for most macroscale applications, but it can be quite significant for MEMS devices. In addition, light actuation offers a new paradigm. First, intersecting light beams do not interfere, in contrast to electrical conductors, which short when they come into contact. Second, light can operate in high temperature and high radiation environments far outside the capability of solid state electronic components [10]. This actuation method is demonstrated, both in air and in vacuum, by switching the state of a bistable MEMS device. The associated heat transfer model is also presented.
AB - This paper presents an optical actuation scheme for MEMS devices based on the well-established fact that light possesses momentum, and hence, imparts a force equal to 2W/c when reflected by a surface. Here, W is the total power of the reflected light, and c is the speed of light. Radiation pressure, as it is known, is nearly insignificant for most macroscale applications, but it can be quite significant for MEMS devices. In addition, light actuation offers a new paradigm. First, intersecting light beams do not interfere, in contrast to electrical conductors, which short when they come into contact. Second, light can operate in high temperature and high radiation environments far outside the capability of solid state electronic components [10]. This actuation method is demonstrated, both in air and in vacuum, by switching the state of a bistable MEMS device. The associated heat transfer model is also presented.
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U2 - 10.1109/JMEMS.2002.803417
DO - 10.1109/JMEMS.2002.803417
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0036772609
SN - 1057-7157
VL - 11
SP - 574
EP - 583
JO - Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems
JF - Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems
IS - 5
ER -