Integrated Electro-Optic Switches Based on Ferroelectric Liquid Crystal Waveguides

Two integrated electro-optic switches based on smectic C * ferroelectric liquid crystal (FLC) planar waveguides oriented in the bookshelf geometry have been designed and realized. In order to test the first switch, a particular waveguide structure consisting of a three-stage device, having a thin FL...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Fiber and integrated optics 2002-07, Vol.21 (4), p.277-293
Main Authors: Sirleto, L., Hermann, D. S., Scalia, G., Komitov, L., Marco, F. De, Abbate, G., Lindgren, M., Mormile, P., Righini, G. C.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Applied sciences
Circuit properties
Electric, optical and optoelectronic circuits
Electro-OPTIC Switches
Electronics
Exact sciences and technology
Ferro-ELECTRIC Liquid Crystals
Integrated Optic Devices
Integrated optoelectronics. Optoelectronic circuits
Optical and optoelectronic circuits
Planar Waveguide
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Summary:Two integrated electro-optic switches based on smectic C * ferroelectric liquid crystal (FLC) planar waveguides oriented in the bookshelf geometry have been designed and realized. In order to test the first switch, a particular waveguide structure consisting of a three-stage device, having a thin FLC film middle stage and two glass waveguides as other stages, has been designed and realized. The second one is realized by a planar waveguide with a smectic C * ferroelectric liquid crystal overlayer. In this article the design, the realization, and the experimental characterization of electro-optical switches are reported. The electro-optical behavior and the response time of both devices have been studied for different configurations for both TE and TM polarization. Our main aim was to demonstrate the feasibility of an integrated electro-optic device based on a FLC waveguide, and our experimental results provide a number of interesting indications about device optimization and practical applications.
ISSN:0146-8030
1096-4681
DOI:10.1080/01468030290087633