Full-Vectorial Description of the Light Guidance in Anisotropic Photonic Liquid Crystal Fibers

Abstract

In this paper we present our theoretical approach for the description of the light guidance in photonic liquid crystal bers. In particular, we focus on the numerical methods allowing for a full implementation of the liquid crystals properties (i.e., including their optical anisotropy and molecular orientation), with a nal target in characterizing photonic liquid crystal bers with accessible computational eort. For this purpose suitable analytical formulae required for a full-vectorial description of the optical modes in photonic liquid crystal bers have been derived. In addition, computational schemes allowing for numerical implementation of theoretical formulations (with the use of the nite-dierence scheme) have been developed, validated and optimized. Their numerical convergence has been checked for dierent structures, as well as for dierent input parameters (e.g., grid-size). Obtained results have been compared to those analytically calculated, known from literature and/or got with use of commercial software. Moreover, the implemented schemes have been examined in accordance with experimental tests performed on the photonic liquid crystal ber of interest.