Liquid crystal parameter analysis for tunable photonic bandgap fiber devices

We investigate the tunability of splay-aligned liquid crystals for the use in solid core photonic crystal fibers. Finite element simulations are used to obtain the alignment of the liquid crystals subject to an external electric field. By means of the liquid crystal director field the optical permittivity is calculated and used in finite element mode simulations. The suitability of liquid crystal photonic bandgap fiber devices for filters, waveplates or sensors is highly dependent on the tunability of the transmission spectrum. In this contribution we investigate how the bandgap tenability is determined by the parameters of the liquid crystals. This enables us to identify suitable liquid crystals for tunable photonic bandgap fiber devices.