Optical characterization of Fabry-Pe/spl acute/rot MEMS filters integrated on tunable short-wave IR detectors

Optical characterization of a microspectrometer based on a voltage tunable Fabry-Pe/spl acute/rot microelectromechanical optical filter monolithically integrated on a Hg/sub x/Cd/sub 1-x/Te infrared (IR) photoconductor is presented. Wavelength tuning from 1.7 to 2.35 μm (650 nm) with less than 9 V is demonstrated. Bandwidths of less than 55/spl plusmn/5 nm and switching times of 60/spl plusmn/10 μs have been achieved. Requirements to reduce the optical bandwidth and extend the tunable range are discussed. This technology has potential applications in hyperspectral imaging and spectroscopy across the entire IR band from 1 to 12 μm.