Alignment and fixing of fiber optics based on electrothermal MEMS actuators

An aligning and fixing method for fiber optics is described in this letter. The alignment is performed using a chevron-type thermal microactuator while the fixing is achieved by ultraviolet curing of an epoxy adhesive once the optical fibers are aligned. The microactuator has been extended so that the heaters and the optical adhesive are separated to avoid curing of the adhesive by temperature. A prototype has been fabricated using 80-μm-thick metallized silicon-on-insulator and mechanical and optical results from the alignment of two bare single-mode optical fibers before, during, and after the fixing are presented.