Ultrashort polarization rotator based on spiral photonic crystal fiber aided by liquid crystal

Appl Opt. 2017 Sep 1;56(25):7294-7298. doi: 10.1364/AO.56.007294.

Abstract

A novel polarization rotator (PR) is proposed based on a spiral photonic crystal fiber aided by liquid crystal. The proposed PR has an ultrashort length of only ∼4.17 μm and a low cross talk of ∼-20.93 dB, and the proposed PR offers a nearly 100% polarization conversion efficiency for the whole C-band. In addition, a large temperature tolerance of ∼±5°C and a large rotation angle tolerance of ∼±4° can be accepted based on the full-vector finite-element method simulation. The proposed PR is a potentially effective polarization conversion device for applications in modern communication systems.