Abstract

Microstructured photonic crystal optical fibers (MOFs) are typically silica optical fibers with airholes in the cladding that run along the length of the fiber.¹ The size, number, and distribution of the airholes can be chosen to achieve specific novel optical properties and guidance mechanisms.² The airholes can also be filled with active materials, which can be exploited in different tunable devices (see for example Ref. [3]). In this paper, we present an approach for manipulating and tuning birefringence in a MOF by filling selected airholes with an index tunable polymer (n_pol) such that the cladding index profile exhibits tunable asymmetry. The experimental results also confirm that the MOF with either three or six fold symmetry exhibit minimal birefringence.

© 2002 Optical Society of America