Modeling of power flow in multimode W-type photonic crystal fibers

Abstract

In this paper recent advances in application of power flow equation to Wtype photonic crystal fibers (PCF) is presented. As known for many years power flow equation has been proven to be best solution when transmission characteristics of multimode optical fibers are to be modeled. Transmission properties of multimode optical fibers depend strongly upon modal dispersion, mode-dependent attenuation and the rate of mode coupling. Throughout years different simulation models have been developed to model light transmission in optical fibers. Electromagnetic wave model is usually used in modeling of single mode and few mode fibers and it is not applicable to multimode fibers. The ray tracing model, which calculates the trajectory for each ray through the fiber, enables the calculation of the impulse response (and therefore frequency response and bandwidth) including the process of mode-dependent attenuation and modal dispersion. Beside this model is computationally intensive since it requires a large number of ray trajectories it can’t account for mode coupling. In contrast, using the time-independent power flow equation, modedependent attenuation and mode coupling can be modeled effectively in order to calculate their influence on transmission characteristics of an optical fiber. Furthermore, using the time-dependent power flow equation, all three major fiber effects can be modeled. In this work we describe application of time-independent power flow equation (TI PFE) on different types of multimode optical fibers.