Abstract
Single-polarization characteristics in highly birefringent fibers have been investigated by considering the photoelastic effect in the entire cross section of the fiber. It has been shown by stress analysis that the stress-induced birefringence between the two orthogonal polarization modes in the cladding is much smaller than that in the core and the vicinity of the core–cladding interface, which causes differential bending loss for the two polarization modes. A bending loss formula, which takes into account the photoelastic effect, has been derived for each polarization mode. Differential attenuation characteristics and extinction ratios have been investigated for several bending radii using the bending loss formula.