The performance of a thermo-optic switch based on a photonic crystal fiber (PCF) infiltrated with a liquid crystal is investigated numerically for various fiber designs. Operation near a long-wavelength bandgap edge is found to yield superior results for the thermal sensitivity compared with the calculated coupling loss between filled and nonfilled fiber sections. By varying the relative hole size of the PCF, comparable performance can in this case be obtained over a large range of core sizes, thus facilitating the matching of the device to other waveguides. (c) 2006 Optical Society of America
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