Optical switches serve as a critical core component in laser ignition systems (LISs), responsible for controlling the ON/OFF state of the optical path. Its performance directly impacts the operational effectiveness of the weapon system. To prevent long-term heat accumulation and achieve low power consumption, this paper proposes a novel Micro-Opto-Electro-Mechanical System optical switch with a state-latching mechanism. Departing from micromirror-based reflection schemes, the device adopts a direct fiber-to-fiber coupling architecture to significantly enhance its capability to withstand high-energy optical power. The state-latching mechanism locks the actuator displacement after the removal of external voltage, thereby maintaining the optical path in the ON state with zero-power consumption. A theoretical model involving electrothermal-mechanical coupling is established, structural optimization and multibody coupled simulations are performed, and experimental verification is conducted. Experimental results demonstrate the successful realization of the state-latching and switching functions, with a transmission efficiency of 71% achieved (1.49 dB insertion loss) under a laser power of 3 W. This work has significant potential for providing a novel functional device in fields such as LIS and all-optical networks.

A novel self-latching MEMS optical interrupter with status monitoring is proposed to enhance the safety of laser initiation system (LIS) by preventing long-term heat accumulation and reducing response time. The electrothermal-actuated interrupter consists of an optical fiber alignment actuator, a positive latching actuator (PLA), and a reverse blocking actuator, each coupled with a status monitoring unit. The PLA is equipped with an interlock mechanism for self-latching capability. The interrupter’s operating state is monitored using cantilever beams that function as travel switches. The interrupters are fabricated using deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers. Experiments are conducted to study the behavior of the proposed interrupter, which demonstrates the successful implementation of its self-latching and status-monitoring features. The interrupter has a switching time of less than 64 ms and exhibits an optical efficiency ranging from 63% to 68% (1.67–1.97-dB insertion loss) with a maximum power transfer of 865 mW from a 1272-mW input.

This article introduces a novel micro-optical electromechanical system safety and arming (S&A) device that utilizes both electrothermal and centrifugal actuators to ensure the reliability and efficiency of the device. The S&A device comprises a pair of V-shaped latching actuators, a pair of U-shaped latching actuators, a reverse blocking actuator, a centrifugal alignment actuator, and two sets of status monitoring units. The V- and U-shaped latching actuators serve as safety features to prevent accidental triggering, while the centrifugal alignment actuator aligns the optical fibers. The mechanical responses of the device under dual-environment loads are analyzed using a finite element model, while a theoretical model is introduced to predict the centrifugal acceleration required for alignment. The device is fabricated using deep reactive ion etching on silicon-on-insulator wafers. Experimental tests confirm the effectiveness of the safety features and the device's capability to transmit high-power optical energy. The optical efficiency ranges from 71.8% to 76.4% (1.17–1.44 dB insertion loss), and the maximum power transfer is 902 mW from an 1180 mW input.

Dynamic modeling is the basis for predicting the behavior of the electro-thermal actuator (ETA). Although the sequential decoupling method, often used in previous studies, has been able to model the dynamics of ETAs, most of them focused only on the ETAs themselves, and few considered the effects of end effectors. In this work, a dynamic multi-fields coupling model considering the effects of end effectors was developed. Due to the end effector, the dynamic model changes from a one-way coupled problem to a complex two-way coupled problem, limiting the commonly used sequential decoupling method. In order to solve the two-way coupled problem, a thermal microscope system was first employed to study the heat transfer characteristics between the ETA and the end effector at different thicknesses of the air gap. Subsequently, a combination of the Crank-Nicolson finite difference method and finite element method was employed to solve the problem numerically. It was eventually demonstrated by experiments that the presented dynamic model is an effective analytical technique to predict the dynamic behavior of the ETA with end effectors.2023-0216

To improve the load identification capability and high overloading-resistibility of the silicon-based micro electromechanical system (MEMS) setback safety device, a MEMS setback safety device with curved zig-zag tracks as the primary load identification mechanism is designed in this paper. The dynamic response of the device under launch and drop load is obtained by the finite Element Method (FEM) simulation. The result shows that the setback safety device can effectively identify the launch load and distinguish the service load. Moreover, the strength model of the curved zig-zag tracks in the collision is established by the quasi-static method. The strength model is verified by FEM simulation, and the result is highly consistent with the FEM simulation result. The influence of structure parameters on the strength of zig-zag tracks was analyzed. Moreover, the methods to improve the overloading-resistibility of structure with surfaces collision are given. The impact experiment platform was established by Marchant Hammer and two types of experiments were conducted: (a) Multiple impact with increasing load amplitude on a single device. (b) Single high amplitude impact on the device. The result shows that the device has sufficient strength while being able to effectively differentiate between drop loads.