Directional electric field sensitivity of a liquid crystal infiltrated photonic crystal fiber

The directional sensitivity of nematic liquid crystal infiltrated polarization-maintaining photonic crystal fiber to an externally applied electric field is evaluated for two-dimensional electric field sensing. Selectively infiltrated and infiltration length optimized polarization- maintaining photonic crystal fiber is used as a probe. Using a polarimetric scheme, the polarized transmission properties of the infiltrated fiber are evaluated in terms of the orientation of the fiber polarization axis in an electric field. It is shown that the sensor has varying sensitivity to electric fields oriented at different angles with respect to the fiber polarization axis. The proposed low-cost all-fiber sensor can be used for two-dimensional directional electric field sensing.