Control of orbital angular momentum of light in optofluidic infiltrated circular photonic crystal fibers

Abstract

Orbital angular momentum (OAM) of light has been of great interest to enhance the data transmission capacity in optical communication systems. In this regards, new designs of optical fibers have been developed to transmit OAM modes. Circular photonic crystal fibers (C-PCFs) with an air-core in the center are good candidates for guiding OAM of light. By changing the geometrical parameters of the C-PCFs, one can control the topological charge (l) associated with OAM order. However, practically it is of significant interest to keep the geometrical parameters fixed and control the OAM characteristics by introducing optical fluid into the C-PCF. Therefore, in this paper, we propose for the first time controlling OAM characteristics such as l, dispersion and confinement loss based on optofluidic infiltrated C-PCFs. To this end, optofluidics with various refractive indices are introduced into the first ring of air holes in the cladding and mode characteristics are compared with those of uninfiltrated C-PCF. The results show that the OAM modes can be well controlled in optofluidic-infiltrated C-PCFs over the wavelength range of 1.25–2.0μm with good dispersion and loss characteristics. Also, the dispersion curve can be flattened when an optical fluid with a proper refractive index is infiltrated into the C-PCF.