Organic and hybrid tunable Bragg gratings for photonic devices

We present a survey on organic composite and hybrid materials suitable for a new family of optical devices like thermo-and electro-tunable multilayer mirrors, microcavities and optical filters. The main component is a tunable and/or switchable Bragg grating. Two different classes of materials have been realized, characterized, and designed in form of prototype devices, namely a) polymer-liquid crystal composite and b) liquid crystal infiltrated porous silicon. Different geometries and patterns can be envisaged, leading to different physical properties and a large number of device potentialities, most of them yet unexplored. Obtained results look promising for both material families, especially for the porous silicon one, which includes an inherent immediate integration with the electronic fabric technology.