Mems-based mechanically tunable flexible photonic crystal

We report design, fabrication and characterization of a MEMS-based tunable flexible photonic crystal, which is comprised of a periodic array of 290 nm diameter high-index (3.46) silicon rod embedded in a low-index (1.56) SU-8. A couple of chevron electro-thermal actuators are attached to the flexible photonic crystal and tunability is achieved by mechanical force generated by the actuators. The mechanical stress induces changes in the periodicity of the photonic crystal and consequently modifies the photonic band structure. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first ever experimental demonstration of mechanically tunable photonic crystal based on MEMS electro-thermal actuators.