Polarization properties of honeycomb-structured photonic bandgap fibres

Abstract
New polarization properties of photonic bandgap optical fibres are analysed. Exemplified by an analysis of honeycomb-structured photonic bandgap fibres, strong birefringence is found for modest non-uniformities (deviations from the 60° symmetry) in and around the core region. This suggests the application of photonic bandgap fibres as polarization-maintaining optical components.