Characterization of a micromechanical spatial light modulator

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Abstract
The optical‐beam‐control dynamics of torsion‐beam deformable‐mirror‐device spatial light modulators has been characterized to determine properties important to their operation. The responses of individual picture elements to steady‐state, transient, and harmonic excitation were measured using optical‐beam‐deflection sensors. The steady‐state angular deflection is characterized by a stable, reversible regime for applied voltages less than a critical value, Vc (∼16 VDC), an unstable transition to stable maximal deflection at Vc, and hysteresis as the applied voltage is reduced to zero. Representative devices with 50 μm×50 μm pixels exhibit full‐deflection rise times of tens of microseconds and small‐deflection resonant frequencies of the order of 10 kHz.