Guiding and birefringent properties of a hybrid PDMS/silica photonic crystal fiber

In this work, we demonstrate a highly birefringent (Hi-Bi) photonic crystal fiber (PCF) infiltrated with PDMS elastomer in order to enhance the sensitivity of the fiber to external temperature variations. Index guiding mechanism of the new PDMS/Silica structure and birefringent properties were investigated numerically and experimentally. We investigated the temperature dependance of birefringence from 20-120°C. For the particular design of Hi-Bi PCF, the cut-off operating wavelength of the hybrid fiber was found to be around 750 nm. We also experimentally demonstrate the effect of the elastomer inclusions to the polarization of the fiber. The sensitivity of the PDMS/Silica Hi-Bi fiber was found to be ~ 0.37 rad/K/cm for temperatures ranging from 20 to 80°C. The total length of the hybrid PCF examined was about 1.4 cm.

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