SSFLC optical directional coupler switch with a short device length: a proposal

A novel vertical directional coupler waveguide switch composed of ferroelectric liquid crystal (FLC) is proposed and analyzed. The surface stabilized ferroelectric liquid crystal break (SSFLC) is used as an active separation layer between passive waveguides. To decrease the switching length, the waveguide switch is based on the power crossing the separation layer rather than coupling between waveguides. The calculated results relevant to the switch parameters such as the switching length, switching time, capacitance, and extinction ratio are presented. Because of the large birefringence of FLC, a very short switching length, less than 60 /spl mu/m, is possible.