In Line liquid Crystal microcell wave plates and their application for high Speed, reset Free polarization mode dispersion compensation in 40-Gbit/s systems

We describe the design, fabrication, and performance of a high speed, continuously tunable, and reset free polarization controller based on nematic liquid crystal (NLC) microcell waveplates fabricated directly between the tips of optical fibers. It utilizes a pulsed driving scheme and optimized NLC materials to achieve a stepwise switching speed of 1 deg. per microsecond, for arbitrary rotation angles, with moderately low voltages. This compact microcell design has low insertion loss and requires no bulk optical components. The good optical properties, and the non-mechanical, high-speed, and low power operation suggest that this type of device might be considered for some applications in dynamic compensation of polarization mode dispersion (PMD), polarization analysis, polarization-division-demultiplexing, and polarization scrambling in high-speed optical communication systems. ,