MEMS research of Morgan and Ghodssi featured in NASA Tech Briefs

Brian Morgan in the MEMS Sensors and Actuators Laboratory

An article highlighting the research of Brian Morgan (Ph.D. Electrical Engineering 2006) and Associate Professor Reza Ghodssi (ECE/ISR) is featured in the January 2007 issue of NASA Tech Briefs/Photonic Tech Briefs. Ghodssi was Morgan's Ph.D. advisor.

The research, "Aligning Optical Fibers by Means of Actuated MEMS Wedges," explores the design and fabrication of a MEMS device that would align optical fibers. These fibers would be aligned both laterally and vertically in optical, electro-optical, optoelectronic, and/or photonic devices on integrated circuit chips and similar monolithic device structures. The MEMS device would consist of a pair of oppositely sloped alignment wedges attached to linear actuators that would translate the wedges in the plane of a substrate, causing an optical fiber in contact with the sloping wedge surfaces to undergo various displacements parallel and perpendicular to the plane. These wedges would be fabricated using gray-scale exposure of photoresist material.

The research also has been published in the February 2007 issue of IEEE/ASME Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems (JMEMS).

Morgan currently is a research engineer with the Army Research Laboratory in Adelphi, Md. Ghodssi directs the MEMS Sensors and Acutators Laboratory at the University of Maryland.

| View a PDF of the NASA Tech Briefs article | View a PDF of the JMEMS paper |

Published March 16, 2007