Researchers have developed a new way to control and manipulate optical signals by embedding a liquid crystal layer into waveguides created with direct laser writing. The new devices enable electro-optical control of polarization, which could open new possibilities for chip-based devices and complex photonic circuits based on femtosecond-written waveguides.
"Laser writing of waveguides and electro-optical modulation via liquid crystals has not been combined in this way before," said Dr Alessandro Alberucci from Friedrich Schiller University Jena in Germany. ...
