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SUMMARY
With nanotechnology set to revolutionize almost every industry and branch ofscience there has never been a greater need to stay current with the latesttechnological developments and opportunities. Nanotech Alert, is the tool youneed for insights into the latest discoveries in nanotechnology before theybecome common knowledge. Nanotech Alert not only provides market projections andanalyses, but also introduces you to the organizations and key players involvedin this exciting new field. Each Alert offers:
* An insightful look at nanotechnology in industries-from aerospace andelectronics to genetic engineering.
Strategic business opportunities for licensing, partnering and investment. * Presentation of the key players behind the technology including theircontact information. * New applications in research and development with analyses of expectedresults and impact.
Sample Briefing MEMS SEESAW SWITCHES LIGHT
Nailing home a thought that is beginning to occur to a lot of people in a numberof industries, the researchers who created a new kind of optical switch at BellLabs state, unequivocally, that the device shows that MEMS will be a disruptivetechnology. It can change the paradigm for an entire industry. In this case theindustry is optical communications. MEMS is just such a good fit.
MEMS (micro-electromechanical systems) technology was used at Bell Labs to builda tiny optical switch that works like a seesaw. It's the first practical lightswitching technology to use MEMS. Bell Labs researchers, already deep intooptical networking systems, think the advance will be the basic switchingtechnology for future optical fiber work.
The lab bench prototype is a microscale pivoting bar with a gold plated mirroron one end. The mirrored end fits in a space between two optical fibers lined upend to end. If the switch is off, the mirror rests below the cores of the twofibers, so lightwave signals can travel from the core of one to the other. Applya voltage to the other end of the bar and you turn the switch on. A plate isattached to that end of the bar and electrostatic forces pull the plate down,lifting the bar so that the mirror reflects the light instead of letting it movefrom one fiber to the other.
The new technology could lead to a variety of devices and systems. One Bell Labsalready has in mind is a wavelength add/drop multiplexer. This adds or dropssignals carried on specific wavelengths of light at the places where they arewanted along the optical data communications line. Others would be provisioningswitches, optically reconfigurable communications networks, power limiters, andvariable attenuators and wavelength-division multiplexed signal equalizers.
Clearly, Bell Labs takes MEMS seriously as a key technology for optical systemsand devices. MEMS devices are small and cheap, they are fabricated like chips,easily scalable to large numbers of devices, can be integrated with analog anddigital circuits, are robust and long-lived, and very functional. The smallmechanical devices are a very good match to optics in scale, price, andmanufacturing environments.
The seesaw switch would share attractive characteristics with other MEMSdevices. It would be less than 1 mm in size, work at a 100 ns to 1 s speed, workat electrostatic energy levels, and cost somewhere in the $1 a chip range. Theseesaw switch adds to a growing MEMS components catalog. We also have, at leastin labs, MEMS data modulators, variable attenuators, optical choppers, anattenuator ribbon, an optical shutter, a light actuated switch, a variableattenuator, and switch arrays. TABLE OF CONTENTS
Weekly Sample Table of Contents * MEMS SEESAW SWITCHES LIGHT * PHOTONS LAUNCH MICROFABRICATION * NANO TROPHY COULD PROVE USEFUL * BIGGER NANOTUBES BEND IN WAVES * SHAPE MOLECULES INTO NANO MACHINES
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