Thermomechanically Driven Polymer Actuator for High Precision Optical Alignment

Precise thermomechanical positioning has been demonstrated in an actuator device based on a silicone elastomer with a high thermal expansion coefficient. The actuator performance has been characterized using optical microscopy, and the actuator has been deployed in an optical coupling experiment to demonstrate the precise positioning of a ball lens between two single mode fibers. Tuning of the coupling efficiency has been achieved in excellent agreement with calculated values and precise positioning (better than 200 nm) over a range of 20 um has been achieved with low power dissipation and temperature control of ± 0.2 ºC. The device performance gives favorable implications for the use of such actuators in optical packaging applications.