High Optical Contrast Liquid Crystal Switch and Analogue Response Attenuator at 1550 nm

A novel mixture of low molar mass organosiloxane liquid crystals, with an optimum tilt angle of 22.5 degrees, exhibits very good alignment. A liquid crystal binary intensity switch with a high, >60 dB, extinction ratio and an analogue response attenuator, with 54 dB of attenuation, suitable for telecommunication applications at lambda = 1550 nm were constructed based on such a mixture. The switch and attenuator operate with fast rise times of similar to 10 mu s and similar to 3.8 mu s, respectively, at moderate electric fields of up to +/- 15 V mu m(-1).