Sensing applications of photonic crystal fibers infiltrated with liquid crystals

Microstructured optical fibers have an ability to change their optical properties through inserting different materials into their holes. The microstructured photonic crystal fibers infiltrated with liquid crystals are characterized by high level of tunability of their propagation properties. The paper presents our latest experimental results of the influence of temperature, external electric field, and hydrostatic pressure on propagation properties of the photonic liquid crystal fibers infiltrated with liquid crystal of low and medium material anisotropies. Measurand-induced shifts of the photonic band gap wavelengths give the information about the value of temperature, voltage, pressure. Moreover, temperature-dependent positions of the photonic band gap wavelengths in the transmission spectrum can serve to determine thermal characteristics of the liquid crystal ordinary refractive index. All of this creates great potential in fiber optic sensing and optical processing application.