This paper reviews some of the recent effort in the area of microwave-optical interaction as applied to enhance the utility of the active integrated antennas and arrays. The paper consists of two parts. In the first part, the optical bias is used as a hidden port to control the characteristics of the active integrated antennas. Two examples will be presented. In the second part, an optical carrier is used for remoting of active integrated antenna for beam control.

We report on a novel micromechanical photonic integrated circuits (PIC) for integrating free-space optical systems on a chip. Using polysilicon surface-micromachining technique, micro-optical elements, three-dimensional optomechanical structures, and microactuators are monolithically integrated on silicon substrate. We will discuss the basic building blocks of the micromechanical PIC, including XYZ micropositioners, 2-axis tilting micromirrors, scanning microlenses, and their integration with vertical cavity surface-emitting lasers. We will also discuss their applications in reconfigurable optical interconnect and active alignment in parallel free-space optical interconnect systems.