We have fabricated and tested an external cavity laser with a micromachined flat polysilicon micro-mirror. The device works using a very short external cavity laser configuration (approximately equals 10micrometers ) allowing to remove all optical element in the cavity while providing enough feedback to modulate the intensity of the laser. We have shown that we could obtain feedback coefficient larger than 0.5, providing an increased sensitivity for sensor application. The device shows interesting characteristics for developing a compact and simple displacement/acceleration sensor with large dynamical range and a resolution estimated below 0.01 nm.

Date Published: 30 October 2001
PDF: 8 pages
Proc. SPIE 4596, Advanced Photonic Sensors and Applications II, (30 October 2001); doi: 10.1117/12.447353

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 4596:
Advanced Photonic Sensors and Applications II
Anand Krishna Asundi; Wolfgang Osten; Vijay K. Varadan, Editor(s)