Hollow-Core Optical Fibers

Abstract

Today hollow-core optical fibers (HCF) are on the verge of surpassing the attenuation benchmark of silica single-mode optical fibers used in optical communication. Compared to solid-core optical fibers, HCFs exhibit ultra-low nonlinearity, high damage threshold, low latency and temperature insensitivity, making them ideal candidates for high-speed data communication, high-resolution sensing, high-power delivery and precise interferometry. The main challenges of low insertion loss, suppressed back-reflections and fundamental mode coupling must be addressed to incorporate HCFs into existing fiber-optic systems to fully exploit their potential. This paper provides an overview of the HCF history, from early papers in the 1980s, over the invention of photonic-bandgap HCFs, to the recent achievements with antiresonant HCFs. Then light guiding mechanisms are presented and key HCF properties are discussed. Interconnection techniques to standard optical fibers are compared with respect to possible HCF applications. Fusion splicing results are presented with an~alternative interconnection solution based on a modified fiber-array technique newly developed by our team. Finally, cutting-edge HCF applications that take advantage of our HCF interconnection, are discussed.