On the transmission by liquid crystal tapered optical fibers

A three-layer liquid crystal tapered optical fiber (LCTF) is investigated with the emphasis on the power confinements by the low order TE and TM modes sustained in the different sections of LCTF. The outermost clad section is considered to be made of liquid crystal with radial anisotropy whereas the core and the inner clad are dielectric regions. Rigorous field expressions in the different LCTF sections are deduced, and the plots of power confinement factors (or the relative distributions) are ultimately made considering different fiber dimensions. The results reveal that the TE modes confine maximum amount of power in the outermost liquid crystal region, which is attributed to the radial anisotropy of the section. Such features of LCTFs attract their usefulness in the area of field coupling devices and optical sensing where evanescent field technique is primarily implemented.