Free-space optical link by microelectromechanical system array and corner cube reflector

We show here a laboratory demonstration of a free-space optical retrocommunication link using a laser at a wavelength of 1.064 μm. The link consists of a transmissive mechanically active antireflection switch array and a corner cube reflector. This link is 3 m long and the beam diameter at the chip is 1.5 mm. A 40% modulation has been achieved at 30-V peak-to-peak bias for a data rate of 2.5 kb/s in atmosphere. We have previously shown that the small etchant hole in the membrane causes a slower data rate, which can be fixed by operating the device in a rough vacuum.