Abstract

It is well known that single-mode optical fibers are actually bimodal because of birefringence¹ and that this birefringence can be a serious problem in communication technology. The problem is often avoided by using fibers whose birefringence is so high that it is possible to inject waves with a fixed polarization; however, the doping process by which these special fibers are created leads to higher losses than are present in the best low-loss fibers.

© 1987 Optical Society of America