Abstract

The method of asymptotic (perturbational) power series is applied to the problem of wave propagation in a transversely anisotropic optical fiber, which has grown in importance in recent years in the process of producing a polarizationally stable monomode fiber. The dielectric waveguide structure considered in the present theory may be arbitrarily inhomogeneous and anisotropic in the transverse plane. The dielectric tensor of the guide is assumed to be only slightly different from that of the surrounding material. It is shown that the asymptotic modes are solutions to a vector differential equation of the Schrödinger type. The isotropic fiber has degenerate solutions and is, in fact, more complicated to solve. The different asymptotic dependence of the birefringence in isotropic and anisotropic guides is clearly demonstrated with the present theory. By applying variational techniques, solutions for both isotropic and anisotropic step-index and parabolic-index fibers are calculated. Emphasis is on such anisotropic guides whose solutions can be obtained from those of the isotropic fiber through a transformation.

© 1984 Optical Society of America

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