Emerging fiber components for lightwave communications

Summary form only given. Fiber fabrication and post-fabrication processing methods have advanced significantly over the past few years, allowing the development of complex, microstructured fibers and fiber components suitable for a wide range of telecommunication applications. To highlight the potential of current microstructuring technology and the range of possible applications of microstructured fiber components we review our recent activities and achievements in three key areas: fiber Bragg gratings, holey fibers and quasi-phase matched poled fibers. The examples serve to illustrate that microstructured fiber components promise to play an important role in future communication systems.