Electrically tunable liquid-crystal photonic crystal fiber

Abstract

Tunable light switch using a photonic crystal fiber filled with nematic liquid crystal is demonstrated. The original band-gap-guiding fiber structure was transformed to a total internal reflection-guiding photonic crystal fiber by filling liquid crystal into the air core and cladding air holes. By applying external voltage to the liquid-crystal-filled fiber, we have demonstrated an electrically tunable fiber-optical switch with over 30dB attenuation at 60Vrms for a He-Ne laser beam. This liquid-crystal-filled photonic crystal fiber will find useful applications in fiber-optic communication systems.