Liquid crystal tunable claddings for polymer integrated optical waveguides

• José M. Otón,
• Manuel Caño-García,
• Fernando Gordo,
• Eva Otón,
• Morten A. Geday and
• Xabier Quintana

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2163–2170, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.209

• explored. Tunable waveguides have been modeled and fabricated using polymers. Optical functions such as variable coupling and optical switching have been demonstrated. Keywords: liquid crystal; organic waveguide; photonic integrated circuit; polymer waveguide; tunable cladding; Introduction Photonic

• influence of a tunable cladding; however, for the cladding to have a significant influence, a quasi-index matching between cladding and core is required. Again, the use of PWGs seems to be the most suitable option for the control with LC claddings. Modifying the beat length in directional couplers A

• simulation example of a directional coupler with an LC tunable cladding is shown in Figure 2. The dimensions and refractive indices, shown in the inset, have been chosen as typical values for organic PWGs and LCs. The curves show the effect of varying the LC effective refractive index from 1.50 to 1.58 in a