Design procedure for photonic crystal fibers with ultra-flattened chromatic dispersion

A simple design procedure is used to generate photonic crystal fibers (PCFs) with ultra-flattened chromatic dispersion. Only four parameters are required, which not only considerably saves the computing time, but also distinctly reduces the air-hole quantity. The influence of the air-hole diameters of each ring of hexagonal PCFs (H-PCF, including 1-hole-missing and 7-hole-missing H-PCFs), circular PCFs (C-PCF), square PCFs (S-PCF), and octagonal PCFs (O-PCF) is investigated through simulations. Results show that regardless of the cross section structures of the PCFs, the 1st ring air-hole diameter has the greatest influence on the dispersion curve followed by that of the 2nd ring. The 3rd ring diameter only affects the dispersion curve within longer wavelengths, whereas the 4th and 5th rings have almost no influence on the dispersion curve. The hole-to-hole pitch between rings changes the dispersion curve as a whole. Based on the simulation results, a procedure is proposed to design PCFs with ultra-flattened dispersion. Through the adjustment of air-hole diameters of the inner three rings and hole-to-hole pitch, a flattened dispersion of 0±0.5 ps/(nm·km) within a wavelength range of 1.239 – 2.083 μm for 5-ring 1-hole-missing H-PCF, 1.248 – 1.992 μm for 5-ring C-PCF, 1.237 – 2.21 μm for 5-ring S-PCF, 1.149 – 1.926 μm for 5-ring O-PCF, and 1.294 – 1.663 μm for 7-hole-missing H-PCF is achieved.     

Supercontinuum generation in square photonic crystal fiber with nearly zero ultra-flattened chromatic dispersion and fabrication tolerance analysis

This paper presents a simple index-guiding square photonic crystal fiber (SPCF) where the core is surrounded by air holes with two different diameters. The proposed design is simulated through an efficient full-vector modal solver based on the finite difference method with anisotropic perfectly matched layers absorbing boundary condition. The nearly zero ultra-flattened dispersion SPCF with low confinement loss, small effective area as well as broadband supercontinuum (SC) spectra is targeted. Numerical results show that the designed SPCF has been achieved at a nearly zero ultra-flattened dispersion of 0 ± 0.25 ps/(nm·km) in a wavelength range of 1.38 μm to 1.89 μm (510 nm band) which covers E, S, C, L and U communication bands, a low confinement loss of less than 10⁻⁷ dB/m in a wavelength range of 1.3 μm to 2.0 μm and a wide SC spectrum (FWHM = 450 nm) by using picosecond pulses at a center wavelength of 1.55 μm. We then analyze the sensitivity of chromatic dispersion to small variations from the optimum value of specific structural parameters. The proposed index-guiding SPCF can be applicable in supercontinuum generation (SCG) covering such diverse fields as spectroscopy applications and telecommunication dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) sources.     

Analytical evaluation of chromatic dispersion in photonic crystal fibers

We present a two-dimensional modal approach for the evaluation, in an analytical manner, of chromatic dispersion in any kind of optical fiber. It combines an iterative Fourier technique to compute the propagation constant at any fixed wavelength and an analytical procedure to calculate its derivatives. The proposed formulation takes into account the effective anisotropy of the interfaces and allows us to deal with microstructured fibers, in general, and specifically with realistic photonic crystal fibers (PCFs), including arbitrary spatial refractive-index distributions of dispersive and absorbing materials. This fast and accurate numerical technique is extremely useful for both analysis and design. We show some results of analysis of PCFs with high anisotropy, and we also describe PCFs with new dispersive properties.     

A unique approach in ultra-flattened dispersion photonic crystal fibers containing elliptical air-holes

In this paper, we report that it is possible to control chromatic dispersion of index guiding PCFs in wide wavelength range by arranging the major axis of the first inner ring perpendicular to that of the second inner ring. Using this unique arrangement, a newly PCF with ultra-low and ultra-flattened dispersion is designed through a finite difference method with anisotropic perfectly matched layers absorbing boundary condition. As an example, we have design a unique PCF with flattened dispersion of ±0.23 ps/(nm·km) from 1.5 to 1.8 μm wavelength and confinement losses of less than 10⁻¹³ dB/m in the wavelength range shorter than 1.8 μm.     

Design of highly nonlinear dispersion flattened hexagonal photonic crystal fibers for dental optical coherence tomography applications

In this paper, we propose a highly nonlinear dispersion flattened hexagonal photonic crystal fiber (HNDF-HPCF) with nonlinear coefficients as large as 57.5W⁻¹ km⁻¹ at 1.31 μm wavelength for dental optical coherence tomography (OCT) applications. This HNDF-HPCF offers not only large nonlinear coefficient but also very flat dispersion slope and very low confinement losses. Using these characteristics of our proposed PCF, it is shown through simulations by using finite difference method with an anisotropic perfectly matched boundary layer that this PCF offers the efficient supercontinuum (SC) generation for dental OCT applications at 1.31 μm wavelength using a picosecond pulse easily produced by commercially available less expensive laser sources. Coherent length of light source using SC is found 10 μm and the spatial resolutions in the depth direction for dental applications of OCT are found about 6.1 μm for enamel and 6.5 μm for dentin.     

Flattened chromatic dispersion in square photonic crystal fibers with low confinement losses

This research presents a simple index-guiding square photonic crystal fibers (SPCFs) that has a silica core surrounded by air hole with two different diameters. It is demonstrated that the designed two-different-size hole-arrayed index-guiding SPCFs has a ultra-flattened chromatic dispersion of 0 ± 0.9 ps/(nm·km) in a wavelength range of 1.34 to 1.61 μm and low confinement loss of less than 10⁻⁷ dB/m in a wavelength range of 1.2 to 1.7 μm. It has also been shown that the proposed SPCFs show reasonable dispersion tolerance.     

Design of broadband nearly-zero flattened dispersion highly nonlinear photonic crystal fiber

We propose a new structure of broadband nearly-zero flattened dispersion highly nonlinear photonic crystal fiber （PCF）. Through optimizing the diameters of the first two inner rings of air-holes and the GeO2 doping concentration of the core, the nonlinear coefficient is up to 47 W^-1.km^-1 at the wavelength of 1.55 um and nearly-zero flattened dispersion of ±0.5 ps/（nm·km） is achieved in the telecommunication window （1460 - 1625 nm）. Due to the use of GeO2-doped core, this innovative structure can offer not only a large nonlinear coefficient and broadband nearly-zero flattened dispersion but also low leakage losses.     

Design of Topas microstructured fiber with ultra-flattened chromatic dispersion and high birefringence

A microstructured polymer optical fiber (mPOF) with both ultra-flattened near-zero chromatic dispersion and high birefringence based on Topas cyclic olefin copolymer is designed. Three rings of uniform elliptical air holes are arranged in triangular lattice in the cladding and an extra small defected hole is introduced in the fiber core. Guided modes, dispersion, birefringence and mode confinement properties of the designed mPOF are investigated by using the full-vector finite element method. Dispersion values between ± 0.5 ps/km/nm over the wavelength 1.1-1.7 μm and high birefringence of the order of 10⁻³ are obtained for the optimized fiber structure. Low confinement losses and small effective mode area are obtained at the same time. The relatively simple architecture of the proposed Topas mPOF can be fabricated by our extrusion-stretching techniques.     

Group-velocity dispersion in photonic crystal fibers

The dispersion properties of photonic crystal fibers are calculated by expression of the modal field as a sum of localized orthogonal functions. Even simple designs of these fibers can yield zero dispersion at wavelengths shorter than 1.27 mum when the fibers are single mode, or a large normal dispersion that is suitable for dispersion compensation at 1.55 mum.     

Supercontinuum generation in photonic crystal fibers made from highly nonlinear glasses

The nonlinear propagation of femtosecond pulses and supercontinuum generation in photonic crystal fibers made from glasses with high nonlinear refractive indices are theoretically investigated without the use of the slowly varying envelope approximation. For specifically designed photonic crystal fibers with two zero-dispersion wavelengths, we predict supercontinuum generation due to nonsolitonic radiation emitted by the solitons on the shorter- and on the longer-wavelength sides. The physical mechanism and the peculiarities of such radiation on both spectral sides are studied and explained by the specific phase-matching relations between the solitons and their associated radiation.     

Control of dispersion in photonic crystal fibers

Photonic crystal fibers (PCFs) exploit the large index difference between air and glass to achieve modal properties unattainable by conventional fiber techniques.     

Modified design of photonic crystal fibers with flattened dispersion

We present a modified method to design photonic crystal fibers with flattened dispersion characteristics. By replacing the circular air-holes of the first central ring with elliptic air-holes, we observe a more flattened dispersion curve. Plane-wave expansion (PWE) method is used to analyze the dispersion property in a high-index core PCF. The simulation results are presented, and ultra-low and ultra-flattened dispersion curves over wide wavelength range are demonstrated.     

Design of defect-core in highly birefringent photonic crystal fibers with anisotropic claddings

The influence of defect-core on the birefringence and confinement losses of rectangular-lattice photonic crystal fibers are investigated numerically by applying the multipole method. Numerical results illustrate that the birefringence in such fibers is determined not only by the arrangement of air holes in the cladding but also the shape of the core. It is found that asymmetry of the core represented by its rectangular shape implies a higher effective index of the mode that is parallel with the longer side of the rectangle, whereas the anisotropic rectangular-lattice cladding gives rise to just the opposite effect and thus the resulting birefringence can be controlled by a proper combinations of both mechanisms. In particular, effect of the asymmetry of the core on the birefringence is dominant for shorter wavelength. Increased birefringence and reduced confinement loss can be achieved, if we form the core by the omission of several air holes in a row to reduce its negative effect on the birefringence. On the other hand, when asymmetry is increased in the other direction, a negative birefringence at shorter wavelength can be achieved. This occurs due to the fact that asymmetry of the core at higher frequencies overcomes the effect of the asymmetric cladding. As a result, its possible to achieve zero birefringence in anisotropic cladding photonic crystal fiber with an asymmetric core.     

低损耗宽带近零色散高非线性光子晶体光纤设计

提出了一种兼具低损耗、宽带近零色散和高非线性的光子晶体光纤结构,该结构光纤包层空气孔直径从纤芯向外层方向渐进增加;应用多极法,通过改变包层空气孔间距Λ、各层空气孔直径和空气孔层数N_r,对光子晶体光纤色散、损耗和非线性特性进行分析,获得了各特性随包层结构参数变化的规律,并最终设计出最佳结构参数。计算结果表明,该结构光纤存在3个零色散点,在1.25～1.55 μm较宽的波长范围内,色散值波动小于0.27 ps·nm⁻¹·km⁻¹,色散斜率小于0.008 ps·km⁻¹·nm⁻²,1.55 μm波长处损耗为0.021 dB/km,在常用的飞秒激光泵浦波长0.8,1.06,1.55 μm处非线性系数分别达到78.6,60.4,38.2 W⁻¹·km⁻¹。     

Endlessly single-mode operation of highly nonlinear photonic crystal fibers by controlled hole collapse

We report a higher-order mode filter in highly nonlinear photonic crystal fibers (HNPCFs) made by a conventional fiber taper rig based on controlled hole collapse. The air holes of the HNPCFs will become smaller due to the surface stress when they are heated on the taper rig incorporating a simple burner configuration. So the HNPCFs' configuration parameters can be easily changed by controlling the heating time. As is well known, if the relative hole size d/Λ of PCF is less than or equal to 0.4, it will become an endlessly single mode fiber. So we can control the heating time to satisfy the criterion of endlessly single mode operation, the heated section will be a higher-mode filter in HNPCFs. The optical loss of the higher-order mode filter is very low for the fundamental mode, typically less than 0.1 dB.     

Tailoring the dispersion properties of photonic crystal fibers

Photonic crystal fibers (PCFs) have had a substantial impact on nonlinear fiber optics and shortpulsed fiber laser systems due to their novel dispersion properties. The large normal or anomalous waveguide dispersion available in such fibers opens up a number of new opportunities not accessible with standard fiber technology. In this contribution, the fundamentals of PCF dispersion are briefly reviewed along with earlier results. In addition, some of our recent work on dispersion tailoring to facilitate nonlinear processes, and dispersion control in lasers will be presented.     

Enhanced nonlinear effects in photonic crystal fibers

Photonic crystal fibers are a new class of single-material optical fibers with wavelength-scale air holes running down the entire fiber length. Photonic crystal fibers were first developed in 1996 and have subsequently been the focus of increasing scientific and technological interest in the field of fiber optics. The manufacturing, principles, basic properties, and some applications of photonic crystal fibers are briefly described in this paper. A review of our recent work on the nonlinear effects in photonic crystal fibers is presented, and special emphasis is placed on such effects as supercontinuum generation, frequency conversion, and solitons observed when femtosecond light pulses propagate in these fibers.     

Nearly zero ultraflattened dispersion in photonic crystal fibers

We present a procedure for achieving photonic crystal fibers with nearly zero ultraflattened group-velocity dispersion. Systematic knowledge of the special guiding properties of these fibers permits the achievement of qualitatively novel dispersion curves. Unlike the behavior of conventional fibers, this new type of dispersion behavior permits remarkably improved suppression of third-order dispersion, particularly in the low-dispersion domain.