Electronic tunability of ferroelectric liquid crystal infiltrated photonic crystal fibre

The electronic tunability of ferroelectric liquid crystal filled photonic crystal fibres is demonstrated for the first time. The tunability is obtained in the wavelength range of 1500-1600nm, with a free spectral range of∼20nm. The electronic tunability is achieved by applying an electric field onto the infiltrated photonic crystal fibre which facilitates the photonic bandgap tuning owing to the microsecond-order switching speeds of ferroelectric liquid crystals. The polarised transmission spectrum shows the behaviour of a tunable notch filter with a change in applied voltage. The results obtained could pave the way for the fabrication of fast tunable all-in-fibre devices in the telecom wavelength range.