Micro-opto-electro-mechanical gyroscope based on the Talbot effect of a single-layer near-field diffraction grating

We demonstrate a novel, to the best of our knowledge, micro-opto-electro-mechanical system (MOEMS) gyroscope based on the Talbot effect of a single-layer near-field diffraction grating. The Talbot effect of an optical grating is studied both theoretically and experimentally. A structure of grating-mirror combination, fabricated by the micro-nano processing method, is used for out-of-plane structure detection. The detection of a weak Coriolis force is realized by using the highly sensitive displacement characteristic of Talbot imaging of near-field diffraction with a mirror mass block and single-layer grating. The experimental results show that, the micro-displacement detection sensitivity can reach up to 0.09%/nm, and the MOEMS gyroscope can be moved in the driven direction, with a resonant frequency of 7048 Hz and a quality factor of 700, which indicates great potential of the Talbot effect in developing novel high-performance micro-gyroscopes.