Dispersion engineering of photonic crystal fibers by means of fluidic infiltration

Abstract

We present a technique based on the optofluidic method to design a photonic crystal fiber (PCF) experiencing small dispersion over a broad range of wavelengths. Without nano-scale variation in the air-hole diameter or the lattice constant of Λ, or even changing the shape of the air holes, this approach allows us to control the dispersion of the fundamental mode in a PCF simply by choosing a suitable refractive index of the liquid to infiltrate into the air holes of the PCF. Moreover, one can design a different PCF such as a dispersion flattened fiber (DFF), dispersion shifted fiber (DSF), by utilizing fluids of various refractive indices.