Displacement Sensing With a Mechanically Tunable Photonic Crystal

We demonstrate a mechanically tunable photonic crystal (PC) designed for highly position-sensitive reflection. Our device consists of a multilayer PC membrane attached to a silicon microelectromechanical system structure for lateral actuation. Inside each of the PC holes there is a pillar, which is attached to the substrate. By moving the PC membrane with respect to the pillars we change the shape of the PC holes and thereby modulate the PC reflectivity. Our measurements show a reflectivity change of more than 80% for a 115-nm lateral displacement.