Liquid crystal tunable claddings for polymer integrated optical waveguides

• Main Authors: José M. Otón, Manuel Caño-García, Fernando Gordo, Eva Otón, Morten A. Geday, Xabier Quintana
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Beilstein-Institut 2019-11-01
• Series: Beilstein Journal of Nanotechnology
• Subjects: liquid crystal; organic waveguide; photonic integrated circuit; polymer waveguide; tunable cladding
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.3762/bjnano.10.209

Optical waveguides in photonic integrated circuits are traditionally passive elements merely carrying optical signals from one point to another. These elements could contribute to the integrated circuit functionality if they were modulated either by variations of the core optical properties, or by using tunable claddings. In this work, the use of liquid crystals as electro-optically active claddings for driving integrated waveguides has been explored. Tunable waveguides have been modeled and fabricated using polymers. Optical functions such as variable coupling and optical switching have been demonstrated.