Leland Stanford Junior University

Jonghwa Shin

Gordon S Kino

Michel J F Digonnet

Shanhui Fan

Michel J Digonnet

Hyang Kyun Kim

Vinayak Dangui

Michel Jf Digonnet

Michel JF Digonnet

An optical fiber includes a cladding with a material having a first refractive index and a pattern of regions formed therein. Each of the regions has a second refractive index lower than the first refractive index. The optical fiber further includes a core region and a core ring having an inner perimeter, an outer perimeter, and a thickness between the inner perimeter and the outer perimeter. The thickness is sized to reduce the number of ring surface modes supported by the core ring.

Optical fiber

An optical fiber includes a cladding with a material having a first refractive index and a pattern of regions formed therein. Each of the regions has a second refractive index lower than the first refractive index. The optical fiber further includes a core region and a core ring surrounding the core region and having an inner perimeter, an outer perimeter, and a thickness between the inner perimeter and the outer perimeter. The thickness is sized to reduce the number of ring surface modes supported by the core ring.

Optical fiber with a core ring

A photonic-bandgap fiber includes a photonic crystal lattice with a material having a first refractive index and a pattern of regions formed therein. Each of the regions has a second refractive index lower than the first refractive index. The photonic-bandgap fiber further includes a core and a core ring surrounding the core and having an inner perimeter, an outer perimeter, and a thickness between the inner perimeter and the outer perimeter. The thickness is sized to reduce the number of ring surface modes supported by the core ring.

Photonic-bandgap fiber with a core ring

A photonic-bandgap fiber includes a photonic crystal lattice with a first material having a first refractive index and a pattern of a second material formed therein. The second material has a second refractive index lower than the first refractive index. The photonic crystal lattice has a plurality of first regions that support intensity lobes of the highest frequency bulk mode and has a plurality of second regions that do not support intensity lobes of the highest frequency bulk mode. The photonic-bandgap fiber further includes a central core formed in the photonic crystal lattice. The photonic-bandgap fiber further includes a core ring having an outer perimeter. The core ring surrounds the central core, wherein the outer perimeter of the core ring passes only through the second regions of the photonic crystal lattice.

Coupling of core modes to surface modes in an air-core photonic-bandgap fiber (PBF) can cause large propagation losses. Computer simulations analyze the relationship between the geometry and the presence of surface modes in PBFs having a triangular hole pattern and identify ranges of core characteristic dimensions (e.g., radii) for which the fiber supports no surface modes (i.e., only core modes are present) over the entire wavelength range of the bandgap. In particular, for a hole spacing &#x39b; and a hole radius &#x3c1;=0.47&#x39b;, the core supports a single mode and supports no surface modes for core radii between about 0.68&#x39b; and about 1.05&#x39b;. The existence of surface modes can be predicted simply and expediently by studying either the bulk modes alone or the geometry of the fiber without requiring a full analysis of the defect modes.

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Stanford, CA, United States of America

Jonghwa Shin