Tunable Selective Liquid Infiltration: Applications to Low Loss Birefringent Photonic Crystal Fibers (PCF) and Its Single Mode Realization

In this article, we’ve theoretically investigated the application of selective liquid infiltration towards realizing birefringent Photonic Crystal Fiber (PCF) and its operation in the single mode region. Birefringence has been created in a symmetrical structure PCF by infiltrating liquid of certain refractive indices in diagonally opposite air-holes. Different air-hole fraction along with different infiltrating refractive indices has been considered towards studying the effect of the parameters towards birefringence and loss. Cut-off properties for different infiltrating liquid has been performed and it has been found that PCF infiltrated with higher Refractive Indices (RI) liquid is suitable for broader range of single mode operation. The present structure provides very low loss and that can also be minimized with higher number of air-hole rings without affecting the birefringent property. Tunability property of the infiltrating liquid for various temperatures has been studied. By varying the refractive indices of the infiltrating liquid the birefringence can be well tuned. Our research will be useful in designing a birefringent PCF from conventional symmetrical PCF by infiltrating liquids in two diagonally opposite air-holes and proper choice of PCF parameter for single mode operation at a desired wavelength of interest.