Photonic liquid crystal fibers: Towards highly tunable photonic devices

Abstract

Photonic liquid crystal fibers are hybrids that combine inorganic host micro-structured glass substrates with organic guest nanostructured liquid crystals. This combination creates a novel class of nano- and microstructured photonic crystal fibers and simultaneously is responsible for a diversity of new and uncommon material and optical properties. Due to the highest level of tunability induced by external electrical, magnetic, optical or thermal physical fields the effective Photonic liquid crystal fibers technology can be used for highly tunable advanced photonic devices.