All-glass leakage channel microstructured optical fibers with large mode area and low bending loss

Abstract

The present paper presents the results of theoretical and experimental studies of all-glass leakage channel microstructured optical fibers (MOFs) with large mode area and low bending loss. These MOFs comprise two layers of fluorine-doped silica glass elements with reduced refractive index, different diameters and different distances between them. Numerical analysis of the properties of these MOFs is performed using the finite element method. The leakage losses for fundamental and higher order modes in the spectral range from 0.70 μm to 1.65 μm for straight and bended MOFs is calculated. It is shown that the proposed MOF design makes it possible to obtain a single-mode regime in the spectral range from 0.98 μm to 1.14 μm with a bending radius up to 0.08 m, while the leakage loss for a bended MOF at a wavelength of 1.05 μm is 0.052 dB/m. The measured loss of manufactured MOF with a core diameter of 22.5 μm at a bending radius of 0.1 m was less than 0.1 dB/m in the spectral range from 0.9 μm to 1.5 μm. It has been demonstrated that segments of this MOF with a length of more than 5 m are single-mode.