Abstract

Continuously tunable birefringence controllers by using Liquid Crystal Photonic BandGap (LCPBG) fibers have been proposed [1,2]. Here, we demonstrate the first compact electrically tunable and rotatable birefringence controller based on LCPBG fibers. The cross section of the device is shown in Fig. 1(a). A LCPBG fiber is mounted between two v-grooves fabricated in a silicon substrate by standard UV lithography and KOH wet etching. 200nm gold electrodes are deposited on the side walls of the grooves, forming a set of electrodes, which fix the fiber at four orthogonal corners relative to the core.The device electrodes are connected in different electrode configurations (ECs) corresponding to three directions of the electric field (0°, 45°, and 90°): EC1 (0°): electrode l=Vs, electrode 4=−Vs, electrode 2=electrode 3=ground. EC2 (45°): electrode l=electrode 2=0.707Vs, electrode 3=electrode 4=−0.707Vs. EC3 (90°): electrode 2=Vs, electrode 3=−Vs, electrode l=electrode 4=ground.

© 2009 IEEE