Tunable and rotatable polarization controller using photonic crystal fiber filled with liquid crystal

Abstract

We design and fabricate a compact tunable and rotatable polarization controller using liquid crystal photonic band gap fibers. The electrically and thermally induced phase shift in the Poincaré sphere and corresponding birefringence change are measured. The direction of the electric field is managed by connecting four electrodes in different electrode configurations, and the thermal tunability is controlled by on-chip heaters. According to the results, a quarter-wave plate and a half-wave plate working in the wavelength range of 1520–1600 nm are experimentally demonstrated.

Light propagation mechanism switching in a liquid crystal infiltrated microstructured polymer optical fibre

“…A similar effect has been previously demon− strated in silica−based photonic crystal fibres infiltrated with a liquid crystalline material [23][24][25][26][27]. The photonic bandgap effect and tuning of the photonic bandgaps in polymer mi− crostructured optical fibres infiltrated with liquid crystals have been also demonstrated [14,28].…”

Optoelectronic Fibers via Selective Amplification of In‐Fiber Capillary Instabilities

“…A number of approaches have been developed to realize in‐fiber optoelectronic devices. One of them is based on prefabricated hollow fibers, which are used as a substrate for the subsequent infiltration or deposition of semiconductor material on their internal surface . Another approach is based on the well‐established fiber drawing techniques, in which a macroscopic version of the targeted multimaterial micro‐ or nanostructure containing all of the desired materials is fabricated and subsequently thermally drawn and scaled down to the desired dimensions .…”

Side-channel photonic crystal fiber for surface enhanced Raman scattering sensing

“…However, the applications of conventional optical fiber based SERS sensing platforms are limited either by the small amount of SERS active particles in active regions or by the low electromagnetic power in sensing areas. Photonic crystal fibers (PCFs), which consist of hollow cores or holey cladding structures, are inherent optofluidic sensing platforms [20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30]. Guided by the advanced development of fabrication, PCFs provide flexible design of optical waveguide properties, by which the light power in sensing area can be enlarged for a specific range of wavelength appropriately.…”