MicroJoinery for optomechanical systems

A new technology for the fabrication of optical microcomponents is presented. This technology combines a number of standard and new techniques to produce microstructures based scaled down versions of macro joints such as dovetail, dado, etc. and has been coined MicroJoinery. This technique along with the collected ''toolbox'' of associated technologies is presented through the fabrication and characterization of two fundamental optical components: an xyz positioning microstages and a I x n fiber optic switch. Other microstructures and components which demonstrate MicroJoinery are also presented.