Designing dispersion-compensating photonic-crystal fibers using a genetic algorithm

✍ Scribed by R.R. Musin; A.M. Zheltikov

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2008
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 244 KB
• Volume: 281
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0030-4018
• DOI: 10.1016/j.optcom.2007.09.035

✦ Synopsis

A genetic algorithm is combined with a fully vectorial finite-element solver to design photonic-crystal fibers (PCFs) for a broadband dispersion compensation in a generic stretcher-compressor system of an ytterbium fiber laser. Two types of PCFs are compared in terms of their dispersion-compensation capability, optical nonlinearity, and confinement loss. Fibers of the first type are standard PCFs where a solid core is surrounded by a triangular uniform lattice of identical air-holes. In PCFs of the second type, the solid core is surrounded by a dual-scale cladding, where the inner part comprises air-holes of different diameters, while the outer cladding consists of large-diameter air-holes. Second-type PCFs are shown to provide a much more accurate dispersion compensation. The influence of fiber-fabrication tolerances on the precision of dispersion compensation in short-pulse fiber laser systems is examined.