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VI Preface
its environment will be drastically improved. Much further work, however, is
required to develop this new field to the stage of commercial production.
The purpose of this book is to give the engineering student and the practi-
cal engineer a systematic introduction to optical MEMS and micromechanical
photonics not only through theoretical and experimental results, but also by
describingvarious products and their fields of application. Chapter 1 begins
with an overview spanningtopics from optical MEMS to micromechanical
photonics and the diversity of products usingthem at present and in the near
future. Chapter 2 demonstrates extremely short-external-cavity laser diodes,
tunable laser diodes, a resonant sensor and an integrated optical head. The
chapter deals with laser diodes closely aligned with a microstructure includ-
inga diaphragm, a microcantilever and a slider. Chapter 3 addresses optical
tweezers. This new technology is employed to manipulate various types of ob-
jects in a variety of research and industrial fields. The section first analyzes
the trappingefficiency by geometrical optics and then compares the theory
with the results obtained experimentally, finally presentinga variety of appli-
cations. Chapter 4 deals with the design and fabrication of an optical rotor and
evaluates its improved mixingof micro-liquids for future fluidic applications
such as micrototal analysis systems (µ-TAS). In Chap. 5, the fundamentals
and applications of the near field are described for the future development of
micromechanical photonics. This technology enables us to observe, read/write
and fabricate beyond the wavelength resolution by accessing and controlling
the near field. The chapter deals with near-field features, theoretical analyses,
experimental analyses and applications mainly related to optical recording.
This work was created in conjunction with many coworkers at NTT
and professors and graduate students in Ritsumeikan University. I would
like to thank many friends at NTT Laboratories: T. Toshima, K. Itao, and
K. kogure for their helpful discussions; Y. Uenishi, Y. Katagiri, E. Higurashi
for their long-term co-operation; H. Nakata for bonding an LD–PD on a slider;
Y. Sugiyama and S. Fujimori for the fabrication of phase-change recording me-
dia; R. Sawada, H. Shimokawa, O. Oguchi, and Y. Suzuki for the preparation
of experimental devices; T. Maruno and Y. Hibino for their help with the fab-
rication of a PLC grating sample; K. Kurumada, N. Tuzuki, and J. Nakano
for the preparation of InP laser diodes; and T. Ohokubo and N. Tamaru for
their help with the experiments.
Professors Y. Ogami, H. Shiraishi, and S. Konishi of Ritsumeikan Univer-
sity and O. Tabata of Kyoto University also deserve many thanks for their
co-operation. In addition, I would also like to thank many graduate students
of Ukita Laboratories: K. Nagatomi, Y. Tanabe, A. Okada, K. Nagumo,
Y. Nakai, T. Ohnishi, Y. Nonohara and Y. Note for their theoretical analyses;
S. Tachibana, T. Saitoh, M. Idaka, H. Uemi, M. Kanehira, K. Uchiyama,
and K. Takada for their help with the experimental analysis; A. Tomimura,
M. Oyoshihara, M. Makita, T. Inokuchi, Y. Itoh, and D. Akagi for their
preparation of optical rotor and microcantilever samples; Y. Takahashi,
T. Tagashira, Y. Ueda, M. Sasaki, and N. Tamura for their experiments on
super-RENS.