Single-polarization single-mode photonic crystal fiber based on index-matching coupling with a single silica material

Abstract

We propose and analyze a novel design of single-polarization single-mode photonic crystal fiber based on index-matching coupling by using a finite-element method. The proposed fiber is designed such that there is a large differential loss between two polarizations of the fundamental mode by reducing two air holes in the cladding region which is composed of hexagonal structured air holes in pure silica. From the numerical analysis it is shown that single-polarization single-mode operation wavelength region can be tuned by adjusting the diameters of two defect air holes. In the proposed design, the spectral region over which the differential loss ratio is larger than 100 can be wider than 150 nm around the wavelength 1.55 or 1.31 mu m. Another novel design that allows simultaneous single-polarization single-mode guidance in two wavelength windows centered at 1.55 and 1.31 mu m is also proposed. (C) 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.