Electrically tunable Fabry-Pérot resonator based on microstrcutured Si containing liquid crystal

Abstract

We have built Fabry-Pérot resonators based on mi-crostructured silicon and a liquid crystal. The devices exhibit tuning of the resonance peaks over a wide range, with relative spectral shifts of up to ∆λ/λ = 10%. In order to achieve this substantial spectral shift, cavity peaks of high order were used. Under applied voltages of up to 15 V, a variation in the refractive index of the nematic liquid crystal E7 from ∆nLC = 0.12 to ∆nLC = 0.17 was observed. These results may have practical applications in the near-, mid and far-infrared range.