Liquid crystal waveguide having two or more control voltages for controlling polarized light

A waveguide for controllably altering an optical phase delay of both a TE polarized light component and a TM polarized light component of the light traveling along a propagation direction through the waveguide, comprising:

• a core for guiding the light through the waveguide;
• cladding on each of opposite sides of the core, the cladding on at least one of the opposite sides of the core having liquid crystal molecules disposed therein;
• a channel formed in the cladding on at least one of the opposite sides of the core, the channel defining an inverted ridge in the core, the channel laterally guiding the light through the core;
• an alignment layer to align the liquid crystal molecules;
• a first electrode pair positioned adjacent the channel for receiving a first voltage, wherein controllably altering the first voltage rotates at least a portion of the liquid crystal molecules adjacent the first electrode in a plane perpendicular to both a propagation direction of light and a plane of the waveguide to controllably alter an optical phase delay of the TE polarized light component without substantially altering the optical phase delay of the TM polarized light component;
• and
• a second electrode pair positioned adjacent the channel for receiving a second voltage, wherein controllably altering the second voltage rotates at least a portion of the liquid crystal molecules adjacent the second electrode in a plane parallel to the propagation direction of light and the plane of the waveguide to controllably alter the optical phase delay of the TM polarized light component without substantially altering the optical phase delay of the TM polarized light component;
• and
• wherein the first electrode pair is positioned adjacent a first alignment region and the second electrode pair is positioned adjacent a second alignment region, the first region initially biasing liquid crystals therein into a first alignment with respect to the propagation direction of light, and the second region initially biasing liquid crystals therein into a second alignment with respect to the propagation direction of light, the first electrode pair optically in series with the second electrode pair.