Open AccessPolymer planar waveguide device using inverted channel structure with upper liquid crystal cladding
Author(s) -
Yuan Xu,
M. A. Uddin,
Philip Chung,
Hau Ping Chan
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
optics express
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 271
ISSN - 1094-4087
DOI - 10.1364/oe.17.007837
Subject(s) - materials science , cladding (metalworking) , liquid crystal , optics , planar , attenuator (electronics) , rubbing , attenuation , optical attenuator , waveguide , refractive index , polymer , optoelectronics , optical fiber , composite material , fiber optic sensor , physics , computer graphics (images) , computer science
We propose a composite waveguide configuration based on an inverted polymer channel structure with upper nematic liquid crystal cladding. This configuration can achieve a more homogenous liquid crystal molecular alignment between the core and the liquid crystal material by minimizing the rubbing damage during preparation of the alignment layer. We demonstrated our idea with a variable optical attenuator which exhibited a 24 dB of attenuation range over a tuning peak voltage of 10 V at 1550 nm.