Suppression of Higher-Order Modes by Segmented Core Doping in Rod-Type Photonic Crystal Fibers

A large mode area Yb-doped rod-type photonic crystal fiber design with a low refractive index ring in the core is proposed to provide an improved suppression of the first higher-order mode compared to the case of uniform core doping, in a way which is more robust against fluctuations in the refractive index value. After applying a scalar step-index model for a first parameter optimization of the proposed design, a full-vector modal solver based on the finite element method has been exploited to analyze the guided mode overlap and effective area for the most promising fibers identified. Finally, a spatial and spectral amplifier model has been considered to study the gain competition among the fundamental and the first higher-order mode guided in the Yb-doped rod-type fibers. Results have demonstrated the effectiveness of the low refractive index ring in suppressing the higher-order mode, thus providing an effectively single-mode behavior for the rod-type fibers.