Optical fibered variable attenuator using phase shifting polymer dispersed liquid crystal

This paper describes a novel variable optical attenuator using a phase variation of a polymer dispersed liquid crystal in a cell with an adequate photo-resist pattern. This component is inserted between two collimated single-mode fibers and tested at telecom wavelengths. An optical attenuation range of 22 dB is obtained with a maximum polarization dependence loss (PDL) of 0.18 dB with a new phase pattern.