Electrically tunable liquid-crystal photonic crystal fiber.

Tunable light switch using a photonic crystal fiber filled with nematic liquid crystal is demonstrated. The original hand-gap-guiding fiber structure was transformed to a total internal reflection-guiding photonic crystal fiber by tilling 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 30 dB attenuation at 60 Vrms for a Hc-Nc laser beam. This liquid-crystal-filled photonic crystal fiber will find useful applications in fiber-optic communication systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]