Radial Effective Index Method for the Analysis of Microstructured Fibers

This chapter focuses on the Radial Effective Index Method (REIM) for the analysis of optical fibers with arbitrary shapes and refractive index profiles and demonstrates its applications to a segmented cladding fiber and a holey fiber. A comparison between the results for the segmented cladding fiber and the holey fiber shows that the two fibers, regardless of their very different structures, operate on the same physical principle. Both fibers are leaky structures and their highly dispersive claddings give rise to effective single-mode operation over a wide range of wavelengths. The REIM provides not only an efficient means for calculating the characteristics of these fibers but also an intuitive understanding of these characteristics. It is expected that the REIM can be applied to other types of microstructured fibers. © 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.