Ferroelectric liquid crystal optical waveguide switches using the double-refraction effect

We propose an optical waveguide device with a bistable ferroelectric liquid crystal as the core. The liquid crystal electrooptic effect device induces a double-refraction phenomenon and the associated optical beamsteering provides a very simple 1×N optical switch. Beamsteering has been experimentally demonstrated and characterized. It exhibits very large angles (/spl phi/=40-60 for respective wavelengths /spl lambda/=0.850-0.632 μm). In the same way, we propose a design that includes polymer integrated lenses for a compact device with a large number of outputs.