Blue-phase liquid crystal cored optical fiber array with photonic bandgaps and nonlinear transmission properties

Abstract

Blue-phase liquid crystal (BPLC) is introduced into the pores of capillary arrays to fabricate fiber arrays. Owing to the photonic-crystals like properties of BPLC, these fiber arrays exhibit temperature dependent photonic bandgaps in the visible spectrum. With the cores maintained in isotropic as well as the Blue phases, the fiber arrays allow high quality image transmission when inserted in the focal plane of a 1x telescope. Nonlinear transmission and optical limiting action on a cw white-light continuum laser is also observed and is attributed to laser induced self-defocusing and propagation modes changing effects caused by some finite absorption of the broadband laser at the short wavelength regime. These nonlinear and other known electro-optical properties of BPLC, in conjunction with their fabrication ease make these fiber arrays highly promising for imaging, electro-optical or all-optical modulation, switching and passive optical limiting applications.