Broadband 1 × 2 polymer optical fiber switches using nematic liquid crystals

Abstract

Compact 1 × 2 multimode fiber optic switches are demonstrated using nematic liquid crystals, a polarization beamsplitter and polarizers. Different structures are proposed for showing that even using NLC with low polarization crosstalk, the device working can be improved using alternative configurations. The switch output ports exhibit an optical interchannel crosstalk less than −22 dB, 7 dB fiber to fiber loss and simultaneous operation at 650 and 850 nm with a low power consumption. Applications of the switch include coarse WDM and optical fiber sensor networks.