title: Variable optical attenuator with a polymer-stabilized dual-frequency liquid crystal.
abstract: A transmission-type variable optical attenuator (VOA) based on a polymer-stabilized dual-frequency liquid crystal (PSDFLC) is demonstrated at gamma = 1.55 microm. 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 microm PSDFLC cell to 30 ms at room temperature and at a voltage of 24 Vrms.
authors.affiliation: College of Optics and Photonics, University of Central Florida, 4000 Central Florida Boulevard, Orlando, Florida 32816, USA.
authors.forename: Yung-Hsun
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Xiao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.forename: Yan-Qing
authors.initials: YQ
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Fang
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Du
authors.forename: Yi-Hsin
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Shin-Tson
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Wu