Two-Layer Polarization-Maintaining Solid-Core Photonic Crystal Fiber

In this study, a two-layer polarization-maintaining solid-core photonic crystal fiber (SC-PCF) is proposed. The cladding has two large holes both in the first and second layers for high birefringence and confinement loss reduction, respectively. The structural parameters are determined from the confinement loss, birefringence, and mode fields, based on which the two-layer polarization-maintaining SC-PCF is fabricated. The experimental results indicate that the loss and birefringence are 1.25 dB/km and 5.2 × 10
^-4
, respectively.