Photonic Crystal Fibers

Photonic crystal-liquid crystal fibers for

single-polarization or high-birefringence

guidance

D. C. Zografopoulos, E. E. Kriezis, and T. D. Tsiboukis

Applied and Computational Electromagnetics Laboratory, Department of Electrical and

Computer Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki GR-54124, Greece.

dzogra@auth.gr, mkriezis@auth.gr, tsibukis@auth.gr

Abstract: The dispersive characteristics of a photonic crystal fiber

enhanced with a liquid crystal core are studied using a planewave expansion

method. Numerical results demonstrate that by appropriate design such

fibers can function in a single-mode/single-polarization operation, exhibit

high- or low- birefringence behavior, or switch between an on-state and an

off-state (no guided modes supported). All of the above can be controlled

by the application of an external electric field, the specific liquid crystal

anchoring conditions and the fiber structural parameters.

Ð'© 2006 Optical Society of America

OCIS codes: (060.2400) Fiber properties; (230.3720) Liquid-crystal devices; (060.2420)

Fibers, polarization-maintaining; (060.2430) Fibers, single-mode; (999.999) Photonic crystal

fibers.

References and links

1. M. D. Nielsen, C. Jacobsen, N.A. Mortensen, J.R. Folkenberg, and H.R. Simonsen, "Low-loss photonic crystal

fibers for transmission systems and their dispersion properties," Opt. Express 12, 1372Ð'-1376 (2004),

http://www.opticsexpress.org/abstract.cfm?URI=OPEX-12-7-1372.

2. T. Ritari, J. Tuominen, H. Ludvigsen, J.C. Petersen, T. SÐ"Ñ'rensen, T.P. Hansen, and H.R. Simonsen, "Gas sensing

using air-guiding photonic bandgap fibers," Opt. Express 12, 4080Ð'-4087 (2004),

http://www.opticsexpress.org/abstract.cfm?URI=OPEX-12-17-4080.

3. S. Lorenz, Ch. Silberhorn, N. Korolkova, R.S. Windeler, and G. Leuchs, "Squeezed light from microstructured

fibers: towards free-space quantum cryptography," Appl. Phys. B 73, 855Ð'-859 (2001).

4. J. Broeng, D. Mogilevtsev, S. Barkou, and A. Bjarklev, "Photonic crystal fibers: a new class of optical

waveguides," Opt. Fiber Techn. 5, 305Ð'-330 (1999).

5. T.A. Birks, J.C. Knight, and P. St. Russell, "Endlessly single-mode photonic crystal fiber," Opt. Lett. 22, 961Ð'-963

(1997).

6. T.-L. Wu and C.-H. Chao, "A novel ultraflattened dispersion photonic crystal fiber," IEEE Phot. Tech. Let. 17,

67Ð'-69 (2005).

7. B. Zsigri, J. LÐ"¦gsgaard, and A. Bjarklev, "A novel photonic crystal fibre design for dispersion compensation," J.

Opt. A 6, 717Ð'-720 (2004).

8. L.P. Shen, W.-P. Huang, G.X. Chen, and S.S. Jian, "Design and optimization of photonic crystal fibers for broadband

dispersion compensation," IEEE Phot. Tech. Let. 15, 540Ð'-543 (2003).

9. K. Saitoh, M. Koshiba, T. Hasegawa, and E. Sasaoka, "Chromatic dispersion control in photonic crystal fibers:

application to ultra-flattened dispersion," Opt. Express 11, 843Ð'-852 (2003),

http://www.opticsexpress.org/abstract.cfm?URI=OPEX-11-8-843.

10. A. Ferrando, E. Silvestre, and P. AndrÐ'Ò'es, "Designing the properties of dispersion-flattened photonic crystal

fibers," Opt. Express 9, 687Ð'-697 (2001), http://www.opticsexpress.org/abstract.cfm?URI=OPEX-9-13-687.

11. K.P. Hansen, "Dispersion flattened hybrid-core nonlinear photonic crystal fiber," Opt. Express 11, 1503Ð'-1509

(2003), http://www.opticsexpress.org/abstract.cfm?URI=OPEX-11-13-1503.

12. G.P. Crawford, D.W. Allender, and J.W. Doane, "Surface elastic and molecular-anchoring properties of nematic

liquid crystals confined to cylindrical cavities," Phys. Rev. A 45, 8693Ð'-8710 (1992).

(C) 2006 OSA 23 January 2006 / Vol. 14, No. 2 / OPTICS EXPRESS 914

#9848 - $15.00 USD Received 2 December 2005; revised 8 January 2006; accepted 16 January 2006

13. S.V. Burylov, "Equilibrium configuration of a nematic liquid crystal confined to a cylindrical cavity," JETP 85,

873Ð'-886 (1997).

14. F. Du, Y.-Q. Lu, and S.-T. Wu, "Electrically tunable liquid-crystal photonic crystal fiber," Appl. Phys. Lett. 85,

2181Ð'-2183 (2004).

15. T.T. Larsen, A. Bjarklev, D.S. Hermann, and J. Broeng, "Optical devices based on liquid crystal photonic bandgap

fibers," Opt. Express 11, 2589Ð'-2596 (2003),

http://www.opticsexpress.org/abstract.cfm?URI=OPEX-11-20-2589.

16. E.P. Kosmidou, E.E. Kriezis, and T.D. Tsiboukis, "Analysis of tunable photonic crystal devices comprising liquid

crystal materials as defects," IEEE J. Quantum Electron. 41, 657Ð'-665 (2005).

17. T.T. Alkeskjold, J. LÐ"¦gsgaard, A. Bjarklev, D.S. Hermann, J. Broeng, J. Li, and S.-T.Wu, "All-optical modulation