Optoelectronic router in glass waveguide with a liquid crystal cladding

An optoelectronic router integrated in a sol-gel waveguide with a liquid crystal over-layer, working at the wavelength of 1.55 mum is theoretically discussed. Mode-mixing principle and electro-optic effect of a smectic A* liquid crystal have been employed to reach the optical shift between two output waveguides. The device is composed by: a single mode input optical channel waveguide; a bimodal active region, having a liquid crystal as over-layer; an output Y branch. The active region is designed to allow a pi shift between the two supported modes, by means of electro-optic effect of smectic A*. By doing so it is possible to steer light from one output channel to the other one of output Y.