Photonic Liquid Crystal Fibers with Polymers

Photonic liquid crystal fibers with polymers constitute a new solution based on liquid crystals and microstructured polymer optical fibers opening up new areas in innovative sensing and photonic devices applications. Compared with their silica-based microstructured fibers, it is easier to fabricate exotic microstructured polymer optical fibers by extrusion or drilling at low temperature; their nonlinearity is potentially stronger, the range of available polymers that may be drawn is more diverse and the biocompatibility of polymers is often better. Liquid crystals due to their attractive properties i.e., the high birefringence, high electro-optic and thermo-optic effects are a very good candidate for microstructured polymer optical fiber infiltration to obtain tunable all-in-fiber innovative photonic devices. The paper will discuss basic properties and possible applications of the polymer photonic liquid crystal fibers that will arise from their high optical tunability with external and internal factors. Current research effort is directed towards two main solutions: photonic crystal fibers and microstructured polymer optical fiber-based structures, both infiltrated with liquid crystals of tailored optical properties.