Abstract
Dramatic advances in research and development on photonic crystal fibers have created new properties that have not been achievable using conventional fibers. Photonic crystal fibers have many fascinating features. The very high relative refractive index between the fiber core and air hole cladding enables several prominent properties, notably endlessly single-mode operation, high nonlinearity, wide-ranging dispersion management, and the ability to maintain high polarization. The processes involved in manufacturing photonic crystal fibers are quite different from those used to manufacture conventional fibers, largely due to the profusion of air holes in the silica glass that comprises photonic crystal fibers. Our research group has optimized the technology to manufacture photonic crystals with the required optical characteristics. This paper describes the manufacturing technology we have developed to produce photonic crystal fibers with low attenuation and high reliability.
