POLARIZATION MAINTAINING MULTI-CORE OPTICAL FIBER

• US 20130108206A1
• Filed: 10/02/2012
• Published: 05/02/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/04/2011
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Sumitomo Electric Industries Limited (Sumitomo Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Sumitomo Electric Industries Limited (Sumitomo Corporation)
• Inventors: Sasaoka, Eisuke, Kanamori, Hiroo
• Application Number:
  US13/633,500
• Publication Number:
  US 20130108206A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 385/11
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/02042 Multicore optical fibres
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/024 with polarisation maintaining properties

Abstract

In a polarization maintaining multi-core optical fiber according to the present invention, structural birefringence is generated since an elliptic core is applied. In addition, each core is arranged so that a direction of a line connecting between centers of the nearest cores and a long axis direction of a field distribution in each core may be different from each other, and thereby, overlap of field distributions between the nearest cores is reduced. As a result, a crosstalk among cores is reduced.

Claims

1. A polarization maintaining multi-core optical fiber comprising a plurality of cores in the same cladding, the optical fiber having a polarization maintaining characteristic which results from structural asymmetry of each of the plurality of cores or structural asymmetry in vicinity of each of the plurality of cores,

wherein a field distribution of light in each of the plurality of cores is asymmetric, and

wherein a direction of a straight line connecting between a center of an arbitrary core among the plurality of cores and a center of a core nearest to the arbitrary core is different from a long axis direction of the field distribution of light in the arbitrary core.

2. The polarization maintaining multi-core optical fiber according to claim 1, wherein the arbitrary core has a first core diameter along the long axis direction of the field distribution of light in the arbitrary core, and a second core diameter along a short axis direction of the field distribution of light in the arbitrary core, and

wherein the first core diameter and the second core diameter are different from each other.

3. The polarization maintaining multi-core optical fiber according to claim 2, wherein the arbitrary core is an elliptic core.

4. The polarization maintaining multi-core optical fiber according to claim 1, further comprising a pair of holes arranged so as to sandwich the arbitrary core.