Abstract

We report a thermo-optic attenuator by means of filling a fluid into air holes of a solid-core photonic crystal fiber. Such an attenuator can perform a 30 dB attenuation operation of the transmitted light near the wavelength of 1200 nm via a small temperature adjustment of ±10 °C. The attenuation function attributes to the absorption of the filled fluid in combination with the interaction between the core mode and the excited ‘fluid rod’ modes, resulting from the thermo-optic effect of the filled fluid.

© 2013 Optical Society of America