Investigation of thermal influence on the bandgap properties of liquid-crystal photonic crystal fibers

We have analyzed the thermal influence on the bandgap properties of liquid-crystal photonic crystal fibers. The bandgap parameters which affect the transmission conditions have been investigated. It is observed that the photonic bandgap can be thermally tuned, i.e. the red or blue shift of the bandgap results from the temperature dependence of the refractive index of the liquid crystal. For the planar alignment of liquid-crystal filled cladding, the ordinary refractive index plays a major role in determining the bandgap properties; the extraordinary refractive index comes into influence while the ordinary refractive index is relatively constant of temperature. The analyses agree well with the experiments results.