Direct Bragg grating writing in a hybrid PDMS/silica photonic crystal fiber

Infiltration of materials into the air holes of the PCFs can potentially manipulate their optical properties creating a new category of fibers termed as hybrid PCFs [1] and many devices based on hybrid PCFs have been developed [2–5]. Recently, a hybrid PCF with poly-dimethylsiloxane (PDMS) elastomer inclusions has been demonstrated [6]. PDMS is widely used in the area of photonics and optofluidics. It is highly transparent with a refractive index ∼1.41, conserving the total internal reflection guiding mechanism of the hybrid PCF. When PDMS is irradiated with UV light its refractive index increases [7]. In this paper we present the first example of a Bragg grating directly written using UV l…