Polarization-Maintaining Supermode Fiber Supporting 20 Modes

We propose a novel polarization-maintaining supermode fiber containing quasi-elliptically arranged high-index cores. Numerical simulation indicates that such a fiber could support up to 20 distinct modes with different polarization states and spatial orientations. At 1550 nm, all the 20 modes are separated from their adjacent modes with effective refractive differences beyond 10-
⁴
. We also investigate the influence of parameters on mode number and effective area of the proposed fiber. Wavelength-dependent performance is analyzed subsequently ranging from 1500 to 1630 nm. The proposed fiber could guide 20 modes with low dispersion over the entire C-band. This letter illustrates that the proposed fiber might be a promising candidate for mode division multiplexing to enhance optical transmission capacity.