Abstract:
Using a technique known as micro-origami, researchers in Japan have grown miniature mirrors hinged on a gallium-arsenide (GaAs) substrate. As laser light is shone on the mirror, its angle to the substrate changes. The team reckons its tiny devices could be used as switching components in optical links. Jose Zanardi and his colleagues now plan to fabricate complicated devices such as corner-cube reflectors and directional photodetectors. They also hope to fabricate nano-scale devices.