Broadband 1×2 liquid crystal router with low thermal dependence for polymer optical fiber networks

A 1×2 optical router based on an achromatic liquid crystal polarization rotator has been designed and experimentally tested. The router can work in the spectral range used in step-index polymer optical fiber networks (400–700nm) with low wavelength and temperature dependences. The theoretical design is fast and simple and has good agreement with experimental results. Experimental crosstalk is lower than −18.68dB for both outputs, even with thermal variations of 10°C. Performance improvement with respect to previously reported devices with similar structure has also been analyzed.