Numerical Modeling of the Fundamental Characteristics of ZBLAN Photonic Crystal Fiber for Communication in 2–3 $\mu\text{m}$ Midinfrared Region

We numerically studied ZrF
₄
-BaF
₂
-LaF
₃
-AIF
₃
-NaF (ZBLAN) photonic crystal fiber (PCF) for potential implementation in optical communication within a 2to 3-μm midinfrared wavelength region. We focused on solid-core uniform air-hole-size hexagonal lattice ZBLAN PCF. The fundamental characteristics such as normalized frequency, confinement loss, chromatic dispersion, effective mode area, and nonlinearity were simulated through a full-vectorial finite-element method with perfectly matched layer boundary condition. Two different structural design ZBLAN PCFs with nonuniform airhole size were designed with zero dispersion wavelength shifted to 2.5 μm. In addition, a near-zero flattened chromatic dispersion ZBLAN PCF within a 2to 3.5-μm wavelength region was achieved. Furthermore, the sensitivity of the dispersion properties to a ±2% variation in the optimum parameters is studied for fabrication tolerance.