Photonic Microsystems: Micro and Nanotechnology Applied to Optical Devices and Systems

Abstract

Like many other engineers and inventors, I believe that the boundaries between traditional fields offer unique and exciting opportunities for innovation and new developments. This is almost self evident when one considers complex systems that integrate functions from several domains. It is also natural that the boundaries between fields are less understood, simply because their study requires expertise in two or more fields.

From this last observation, it follows that interdisciplinary research is hard. It re- quires dedicated individuals who are willing to make the heavy investments necessary to master several fields of inquiry, or, something even more extraordinary,

teams that are able to smoothly communicate across disciplinary boundaries. This

is the defining problem of the book. It is written to encourage and facilitate interdisciplinary research on optical microsystems, by which we mean optics created

using microfabrication technology, i.e. the tools and techniques developed to fabricate Integrated Circuits (ICs) and MicroElectroMechanical (MEMS).

Innovation and design of modern optical systems requires input from many fields,

as well as specific application knowledge. Examples include optical interconnects, optical-fiber communication networks, digital projectors, and imagers for

photography and microscopy. The design of these systems depends on seamless

integration of optics with electronics and mechanics. The best solutions are optimized over all these domains to meet application demands. In the case of microoptics, the interdisciplinary requirements are even stricter; these systems must be

optimized for the Integrated Circuit (IC) and MicroElectroMechanical (MEMS)

fabrication environment. A large part of that optimization is to reduce the dimensions of the optical-systems designs so that they can be practically and economically fabricated using IC and MEMS techniques.

This book gives students, researchers, and developers the tools they need to analyze and design micro-optical devices systems. Design is the ultimate “inverse” problem, so the emphasis is on analytical models that can be turned into design equations. The point is to enable interdisciplinary research, so very little background in optics, MEMS, or fabrication is assumed. The first part on optics fundamentals is accessible to readers with an understanding of first-year, universitylevel physics.

The book is self-contained in that the concepts developed in the

first part give the necessary background for understanding the detailed descriptions of the second and third parts.