Magneto and Electro-Optic Intensity Modulator Based on Liquid Crystal and Magnetic Fluid Filled Photonic Crystal Fiber**Supported by the Joint Research Fund in Astronomy under Cooperative Agreement between the National Natural Science Foundation of China and Chinese Academy of Sciences under Grant No U1531102, the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities under Grant No HEUCF181116, and the National Natural Science

Abstract

We propose a novel light intensity modulator based on magnetic fluid and liquid crystal (LC) filled photonic crystal fibers (PCFs). The influences of electric and magnetic fields on the transmission intensity are theoretically and experimentally analyzed and investigated. Both the electric and magnetic fields can manipulate the molecular arrangement of LC to array a certain angle without changing the refractive index of the LC. Therefore, light loss in the PCF varies with the electric and magnetic fields whereas the peak wavelengths remain constant. The experimental results show that the transmission intensity decreases with the increase of the electric and magnetic fields. The cut-off electric field is 0.899 V/μm at 20 Hz and the cut-off magnetic field is 195 mT. This simple and compacted optical modulator will have a great prospect in sensing applications.