MEMS for plasmon control of optical metamaterials

Metamaterials have attracted a great deal of attention as artificial electromagnetic materials having unique optical characteristics, and various innovative optical applications have been expected. Micro electromechanical systems (MEMS)-based reconfigurable metamaterials are candidate technologies for active optical control. In this paper, we focus on MEMS-based reconfigurable metamaterials operated in the optical region between visible and near-infrared wavelengths. A brief overview of static optical metamaterials and active optical metamaterials driven by MEMS actuators is presented. Moreover, points to be considered for a micromachining process of optical metamaterials are discussed with results of calculations.