Widely tunable reflection-type Fabry-Perot interferometer based on relaxor ferroelectric poly(vinylidenefluoride-chlorotrifluoroethylene-trifluoroethylene)

A reflection-type Fabry-Perot interferometer (FPI) with a large tunability has been demonstrated on relaxor ferroelectric poly(vinylidenefluoride-chlorotrifluoroethylene-trifluoroethylene) [P(VDF-CTFE-TrFE)] 78.9/13.9/7.2 mol% with a thickness of 9.2 mu m. The optical path length of the FPI is modulated by the electrostrictive strain of the terpolymer under electric field, where the low-loss distributed Bragg reflector and aluminium film are employed as the mirrors in the FPI. A positive strain of 20% has been achieved in the terpolymer film under a field of 30 MV/m, which leads to the FPI with a tunable range of more than 200 nm at wavelengths around 680 nm. (c) 2008 Optical Society of America.