Quicktime (837K)
AVI (2413K)

Pop-up Silicon Mirror
Force provided by a comb drive actuator moves a linear rack, which drives a hinged sheet of silicon back and forth. A HeNe optical-band (red) laser is focused at an angle such that as the mirror is elevated, the coherent light is reflected into the microscope's camera.

Quicktime (976K)
AVI (1068K)

Pop-up Silicon Mirror (High Speed Operation)
The same pop-up mirror as above, this time operating at full speed. The high switch rate of the mirror (35 milliseconds) validates its potential for use in optical switching.

Quicktime (333K)
AVI (481K)

Pop-up Silicon Mirror (High Speed Operation)
Although just a blur, this is actually the mirror being raised and lowered by a microengine operating at over 100,000 RPM.

Quicktime (575K)
AVI (721K)

Deflection of Laser Light
Here a mirror is slowly raised and lowered to show the deflection of laser light.

Quicktime (313K)
AVI (323K)

Pop-up Silicon Mirror
In this video, the mirror is shown being elevated in less than two-thousandths of a second.

Quicktime (364K)
AVI (344K)

Demonstration of Switching Speed
The switching speed (time required to deflect optical energy) can range from 2.67 milliseconds for fullly raising and lowering the mirror to 1.18 milliseconds for smaller angle deflections