Abstract

Photonic band gap (PBG) fibers consist of a regular array of alternating dielectric material and guide light within a central defect region by a coherent Bragg scattering mechanism. The unique waveguiding mechanism of PBG fibers allows one the possibility to guide light within a low index core such as air or vacuum, potentially providing a route towards high power transmission.¹ Additionally, the strong wavelength dependent transmission and dispersion properties of these resonant waveguides offer interesting device applications. In this work, the group delay in a tunable PBG fiber² is measured across a photonic band gap as a function of temperature. The group delay is found to track the shifts in the bandgap as the temperature is tuned, providing a means for tunable dispersion compensation.

© 2002 Optical Society of America