Suspended core fibers for the transmission of cylindrical vector modes

Abstract

This paper presents a study of propagation of radially and azimuthally polarized cylindrical vector modes in six-strut suspended core fibers based on finite element simulations. The study shows large effective index differences in order of 10-⁻³-10⁻² of these modes can be achieved in the suspended core fibers with core diameter of less than 2 μm, material index 1.45 of silica to 2.0 of tellurite and wavelength of 750 nm, allowing the stable propagation of the first higher order modes in doughnut shape within these fibers. The effective index difference and the field intensity of these cylindrical vector modes can be tuned by selecting appropriate fiber material and core size. The study shows that the suspended core fiber can be a competitive candidate for fiber-based highresolution stimulated emission depletion (STED) nanoscopy application.