Polarization-Independent Surface Plasmon Liquid Crystal Photonic Crystal Multiplexer–Demultiplexer

A novel design of polarization-independent surface plasmon multiplexer- demultiplexer (MUX/DEMUX) based on dual-core photonic crystal fiber with a central gold wire is proposed and analyzed. The cladding air holes are infiltrated with a nematic liquid crystal of type E7 with rotation angle φ, and the background material is a soft glass of type SF57 (lead silica). The simulation results are obtained using full-vectorial finite-difference method and coupled mode theory. At φ = 900, the suggested MUX/DEMUX has a short device length of 953.254 μm for x-polarized modes with broad bandwidths of 235 and 175 nm around wavelengths of 1.3 and 1.55 μm, respectively, with low cross-talk better than -20 dB. For y-polarized modes, the reported MUX/DEMUX has short device length of 1322.86 μm with broad bandwidths of 193 and 170 nm around 1.3 and 1.55 μm, respectively. Moreover, the polarization independence is achieved with short device lengths of 1138.06 and 1180 μm at φ = 90° and 0°, respectively.