Stored Energy, Transmission Group Delay and Mode Field Distortion in Optical Fibers

Abstract

The relationship between transmission group delay and stored energy in optical fibers is discussed. We show by numerical computations that the group delay of an optical pulse of finite bandwidth transmitted through a piece of a low loss optical fiber of unit length is proportional to the energy stored by the standing wave electromagnetic field. The stored energy-group delay ratio typically approaches unity as the confinement loss converges to zero. In case of a dispersion tailored Bragg fiber, we found that the stored energy-group delay ratio decreased while the confinement loss increased compared to those of the standard quarterwave Bragg fiber configuration. Furthermore, a rapid variation in the group delay versus wavelength function due to mode-crossing events (in hollow core photonic bandgap fibers for instance) or resonances originating from slightly coupled cavities, surface or leaking modes in index guiding, photonic bandgap, or photonic crystal fibers always results in a rapid change in the mode-field distribution, which seriously affects splicing losses and focusability of the transmitted laser beam. All of these factors must be taken into consideration during the design of dispersion tailored fibers for different applications.