Tunable highly-birefringent Photonic Liquid Crystal Fibers

Temperature tunable highly-birefringent (HB) photonic liquid crystal fibers (PLCFs) based on commercially available (Blazephotonics PM-1550-01) HB photonic crystal fiber (PCF) infiltrated with nematic liquid crystals (LCs) are demonstrated. The wavelength scanning technique was used to measure group and phase birefringence along with its wavelength dependence and the method was also adapted to intermodal birefringence measurements. It was found that selective infiltration of the HB PCF fiber with a LC changes its birefringence sign of the fiber. Since refractive indices of LCs depend on temperature, thermally-induced birefringence tuning in PLCFs is possible.