Ultrashort polarization rotator based on spiral photonic crystal fiber aided by liquid crystal.

A novel polarization rotator (PR) is proposed based on a spiral photonic crystal fiber aided by liquid crystal. The proposed PR has an ultrashort length of only similar to 4.17 mu m and a low cross talk of similar to - 20.93 dB, and the proposed PR offers a nearly 100% polarization conversion efficiency for the whole C-band. In addition, a large temperature tolerance of similar to +/- 5 degrees C and a large rotation angle tolerance of similar to +/- 4 degrees can be accepted based on the full-vector finite-element method simulation. The proposed PR is a potentially effective polarization conversion device for applications in modern communication systems. (C) 2017 Optical Society of America