All-optical optofluidic fiber intensity modulator

Abstract

We present optofluidic fiber intensity modulator based on shaped and metal coated liquid core optical fiber filled with Cargille liquid. Static attenuation of 60 dB was achieved by thermo-optical effect, where focused laser beam was used as a local heating source. Different attenuation level can be simply adjusted using low optical power of heating laser. Dynamic response documents 30 ms response time.