An efficiently tunable microring resonator using a liquid crystal-cladded polymer waveguide

An electrically tunable polymer microring resonator of large tunability and low applied voltage is demonstrated using active liquid crystal (LC) cladding. A large tuning range of 0.73 nm is achieved due to more homogenous LC molecular alignment and enhanced interaction of the light with the LC cladding in the simplified polymer waveguide structure. The operating voltage decreases to 10 V with a threshold of only 3 V by the utilization of interdigital electrodes. (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3492848]