Design and fabrication of low-loss and low-crosstalk polarization-maintaining optical fibers

Low-loss and low-crosstalk polarization-maintaining optical fibers (called PANDA fibers), which are potentially useful for coherent optical communication systems, have been fabricated based on the optimum design. Transmission loss of 0.22 dB/km, comparable to that of commercially available single-mode fibers, and crosstalk of -27 dB in a 5-km length, corresponding to the polarization-mode-coupling coefficient of4.0 × 10⁻⁷m-1, have been demonstrated in the 1.56-μm wavelength.