Abstract
This paper proposes an optical dynamic gain equalizer (hereafter DGEQ) using an electrostatic controlled linear inchworm actuator (hereafter ECLIA). A slider of ECLIA attenuates an intensity of an optical beam, so that parallel motions of arrayed sliders can control and equalize spectrums of demultiplexed signals. A designed DGEQ takes the following advantages of ECLIA to provide gain flattening of spectral gain non-uniformities: Precise motion, Large stroke, Parallel motions of arrayed sliders. Through our experiments, 1dB attenuation of optical intensity was obtained by 20μm motion of a single slider. Furthermore, the optical attenuation by independent motions of 3 sliders has been confirmed. Batch-fabrication of arrayed sliders into a SOI substrate will be described towards a ECLIA based DGEQ with higher resolution. The batch-fabricated slider could be operated successfully. Each slider could move over 150μm range with nm order precision.
