Hollow Core Photonic Crystal Fibers

Features

Available with Design Wavelengths of 840, 1060, 1550, and 1570 nm
7-Cell Core Offers Large Continuous Operation Bandwidth
Small Number of Core Modes and Parasitic Surface Modes
Zero Dispersion at the Design Wavelength
Near-Gaussian Fundamental Mode
Virtually Free of Optical Nonlinearity
Virtually Immune to Bend Loss
No Fresnel Reflection from the End-Faces (Modal Index ≈ 1)

Applications

Delivery of Ultra-Short High-Power Optical Pulses
Pulse Compression and Pulse Shaping
Sensors and Spectroscopy

General

Photonic bandgap (hollow core) fibers guide light in a hollow core that is surrounded by a microstructured cladding. Photonic bandgaps can form in materials that have a periodically structured refractive index; in PCFs this is achieved by using a periodic arrangement of air holes in silica. A photonic bandgap in the cladding acts as a virtually loss-free mirror confining light to a core, which does not need to be fabricated from a solid material. In some types of PCF <1% of the optical power propagates in the glass, greatly reducing the extent to which the bulk properties of the glass determine the properties of the fiber. Hollow core PCFs can therefore have extremely low nonlinearity, high breakdown threshold, zero dispersion at any design wavelength, and negligible interface reflection. Furthermore, it becomes possible to fabricate low-loss fibers from comparatively high-loss materials, extending the range of materials that can be considered for fiber fabrication. The fiber is protected by a single layer acrylate coating and can be stripped and cleaved like ordinary solid fibers.

Optical Properties

Modal Properties
As with conventional single mode fibers, the favored mode in hollow-core PFCs has a quasi-Gaussian intensity distribution. Even though hollow core PCFs are intended to be used like other single mode fibers, no currently available low-loss hollow-core PCF is a true single mode waveguide; typically, they support several higher order core modes and, in some cases, additional “surface” modes located at the core cladding boundary. All of these modes have higher loss than the fundamental mode and generally decay rapidly, but their presence needs to be taken into account when designing input and output coupling optics.

Chromatic Dispersion
Unlike in conventional fiber where material dispersion plays a major role, group velocity dispersion (GVD) in hollow-core PCF is dominated by waveguide dispersion. A plot of dispersion versus wavelength is upward sloping and crosses zero close to the center of the operating wavelength band, for any design wavelength, including those where the dispersion of silica makes it impossible to achieve zero dispersion in conventional fiber.

Attenuation
Hollow core fibers only guide light within the wavelength range covered by the photonic bandgap in the cladding. Outside that range — typically about 10% of the design wavelength - loss increases sharply.

Optical Properties

Item #	Center λ	Mode Field Diameter*	Numerical Aperture	Effective Mode Index	Attenuation	Bandwidth
HC-800	830 nm	8.8 µm	~0.20	~0.99	<0.3 dB/m	795-865 nm
HC-1060	1060 nm	7.5 ± 1 µm	~0.20	~0.99	<0.1 dB/m	1015-1105 nm
HC-1550	1550 nm	7.5 µm	~0.20	~0.99	<0.03 dB/m	1450-1650 nm
HC19-1550	1570 nm	13 µm	~0.13 ± 0.03	~0.995	<0.02 dB/m	1530-1610 nm

* Full 1/e-width of the near field intensity distribution

Physical Properties

Item #	Core Diameter*	Pitch	Air Fill (in Holey Region)	Diameter of Holey Region	Silica Cladding Diameter	Coating Diameter (Fiber O.D.)
HC-800	9.5 ± 1 µm	2.3 µm	>90%	40 µm	135 ± 5 µm	220 ± 50 µm
HC-1060	10 ± 1 µm	2.75 µm	>90%	50 µm	123 ± 5 µm	220 ± 50 µm
HC-1550	10 ± 1 µm	3.8 µm	>90%	70 µm	120 µm	220 µm
HC19-1550	20 ± 2 µm	3.9 µm	>90%	73 µm	115 µm	220 µm

* Core formed by removing 7 hexagonal unit cells of the cladding

Click to Enlarge	Click to Enlarge
Click to Enlarge	Click to Enlarge

The following application note from NKT Photonics details stripping and cleaving photonic crystal fiber.

Application_Note_-_Stripping_Cleaving_and_Coupling.pdf

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Posted Comments:
Poster: Adam	Posted Date: 2010-05-19 16:15:48.0
A response from Adam at Thorlabs to hawthorne: We would suggest using the T08S13 to strip the fiber. Please note that we would only recommend stripping 2-3mm at a time. Stripping more than this will cause the fiber to snap.

Poster: hawthorne	Posted Date: 2010-05-19 15:33:46.0
I am having issues stripping the cladding off of this product. I am using standard mechanical strippers, but it seems that after a few millimeters come off, the core snaps. any Ideas?

Poster: Adam	Posted Date: 2010-04-26 15:47:49.0
A response from Adam at Thorlabs to atulyas: These products are manufactured by Crystal fiber and we can not give away free samples at this time. We do have some fiber that we can sell 0.6m prorated at $533/m x 0.6= $320. I will contact you directly to see if you are interested in this fiber.

Poster: atulyas	Posted Date: 2010-04-26 09:23:20.0
Hello, I am interested in HC-1550 (Hollow Core PCF, 1550 nm, 10.9 µm Core). Can you provide some sample to evaluate this fiber? You can use my UPS account 229A2R to send the samples. Thanks and with the best regards, Mr.Atulya Sahay Cell : 09324067543 Photonics Marketing Company(PMC) No.7, Bldg No.2, HemaPark Bhandup East Mumbai - 400042, India Phone : +91-22-32657126 Fax : +91-22-25661863

Poster: klee	Posted Date: 2009-11-13 11:38:09.0
A response from Ken at Thorlabs to b.judkewitz: For information on short pulse power delivery, please follow the link below. http://www.thorlabs.com/techsupportdocs/Pulsedelivery(2).pdf The complete spec sheets are also available for download. Click on The Documents & Drawings tab and then click on the PDF icon for the MFG spec. We can get these fibers terminated from the manufacturer. Please send your full contact information to techsupport@thorlabs.com if you would like to obtain a quotation.

Poster: b.judkewitz	Posted Date: 2009-11-12 18:00:28.0
Hi, we are interested in using a PCF for relaying a femtosecond pulsed Ti:S laser from one airtable to the next. Could you send me some more information, e.g. on the maximum laser intensity that can be passed through the fiber? Is this fiber available with connectors? Many thanks, Benjamin

Poster: Laurie	Posted Date: 2009-04-16 15:50:19.0
Response from Laurie at Thorlabs: We will update the image at the top of the page to reflect that HC-633 is not offered anymore. As for the HC19-1550 and HC-800, there is a process that these items need to go through to get onto the web. They will be available shortly, and at that time, we will incorporate your comments/suggestions.

Poster: rjr	Posted Date: 2009-04-16 13:46:19.0
Some comments on the hollow core fiber site: 1)picture of HC-633 should be removed as it is no longer offered. 2)In Feature bullet list, add 800 nm to available wavelengths (recently added back) 3)In Feature bullet list, add "19-Cell Core Offers Low Loss" 4)Other references to HC-633 should be removed as this is not offered 5)Should add in details of HC19-1550 and HC-800 which are now being offered (see Carl Lin) Thank you Rich Ramsay Crystal Fibre

Poster: Tyler	Posted Date: 2008-11-20 14:03:59.0
A response from Tyler at Thorlabs to xbyin: Thank you for sending us your product inquiry. The HC-633 product has been discontinued, however we will send you the product data sheet and any information we have on the availability of the fiber.

Poster: xbyin	Posted Date: 2008-11-19 17:31:05.0
Dear sir, I am looking for the HC-633 hollow core fiber. Can you provide me any product info or paper quote for this? thanks, xb