Abstract
The study of free vibrations of systems such as simple cantilevers has been mainly concerned with the determination of the eigenvalues (frequencies) and eigenfunctions (modal shapes). A technique has been developed, using optical beam deflection, to measure the modal shape of a cantilever non-invasively at each modal frequency. A knowledge of the modal shapes of very small cantilevers incorporating suitable actuators is important in the application of active vibration control to micromechanical structures.