Switchable photonic crystal cavity by liquid crystal infiltration

P.-Y. Baroni; Q. Tan; V. Paeder; A. Cosentino; M. Roussey; T. Scharf; H. P. Herzig; W. Nakagawa

doi:10.2971/jeos.2010.10057

Journal of the European Optical Society - Rapid publications, Vol 5 (2010)

Switchable photonic crystal cavity by liquid crystal infiltration

P.-Y. Baroni, Q. Tan, V. Paeder, A. Cosentino, M. Roussey, T. Scharf, H. P. Herzig, W. Nakagawa

Abstract

We report on the fabrication and optical characterization of a switchable photonic crystal nanocavity actuated by liquid crystals. This device acts as a filter presenting a transmission peak around the telecom wavelength λ = 1550 nm. Passing from the isotropic to the anisotropic (oriented crystals) state of the liquid crystals, a shift of Δλ =13 nm has been measured, which confirms the theoretical predictions obtained by finite difference time domain simulations. We have developed a photonic crystal nanocavity that can be tuned thanks to the properties of liquid crystals infiltrated in the holes of the photonic device.

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