Versatile control of geometric birefringence in elliptical hollow optical fiber

A novel optical fiber fabrication technique was developed by converting the symmetry of the silica substrate into the germanosilicate ring core to efficiently introduce geometric birefringence in an elliptical hollow optical fiber. Due to high ellipticity in the hollow ring core, the fiber provides an extremely high group birefringence of 2.35 X 10(-3) at 1550 nm. Single-mode single-polarization guidance was also experimentally confirmed, with a bandwidth of similar to 35 nm. The generic adiabatic mode conversion capability in the taper also provided a stable fusion splice to conventional single-mode fiber with low loss and high tensile strength. (c) 2006 Optical Society of America.