Variable optical attenuator with a polymer-stabilized dual-frequency liquid crystal

    Authors

    Y. H. Wu; X. Liang; Y. Q. Lu; F. Du; Y. H. Lin;S. T. Wu

    Comments

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    Abbreviated Journal Title

    Appl. Optics

    Keywords

    CURING TEMPERATURE; ANISOTROPIC GELS; LIGHT; Optics

    Abstract

    A transmission-type variable optical attenuator WOA) based on a polymer-stabilized dual-frequency liquid crystal (PSDFLC) is demonstrated at gimel = 1.55 mu m. The VOA is highly transparent in the voltage-off state but scatters light in the voltage-on state. By using a birefringent beam displacer incorporated with half-wave plates, we can obtain a VOA that is polarization independent and that exhibits a 31 dB dynamic range. The polymer networks and dual-frequency effect together reduce the response time (rise + decay) of a 16 mu m PSDFLC cell to 30(ms) at room temperature and at a voltage of 24 V. (c) 2005 Optical Society of America

    Journal Title

    Applied Optics

    Volume

    44

    Issue/Number

    20

    Publication Date

    1-1-2005

    Document Type

    Article

    Language

    English

    First Page

    4394

    Last Page

    4397

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:000230366700026

    ISSN

    1559-128X

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