Analyses of cladding modes in photonic crystal fiber.

Characteristics of cladding modes in a photonic crystal fiber (PCF) are numerically analyzed using the plane wave expansion method. The presence of the outer silica ring in the PCF tends to push the optical fields of the cladding modes toward the rim of the PCF, which creates 'ring modes' whose fields are tightly confined in the outer ring. The dispersion of the cladding modes are determined mainly by the dispersive property of the holey cladding structure. The optical field patterns of the cladding modes and the beatlengths between the fundamental mode and the cladding modes are also investigated.