Polarization mode dispersion and vectorial modulational instability in air–silica microstructure fiber

Abstract
The birefringence of an air–silica microstructure fiber has been studied by measurement of the fiber polarization mode dispersion (PMD) over the wavelength range 545–640 nm. The experimental results are shown to be in good agreement with vectorial numerical calculations, assuming an elliptical core with an eccentricity of 7%. We also report controlled experiments studying nonlinear vectorial modulation instability in the fiber, yielding 3.9-THz modulational instability sideband shifts that are in good agreement with theoretical predictions based on the calculated fiber dispersion and PMD characteristics.