Experimental Results on a New Integrated Beam Deflector/Switch Based on Liquid Crystals

Liquid crystals have effective electro-optic coefficients that are orders of magnitude larger than other materials used in integrated optics. A number of integrated optical devices based on these materials have been recently proposed. We have designed and realized an integrated device in a three-stage planar waveguide, having as middle stage a nematic liquid crystal film. We studied the device performance in different geometries using TE polarized light. By a proper choice of the material parameters we measured time responses in the microsecond range. Our experimental results confirm the possibility of employing such a device working as an optical switch and/or beam deflector.