Transmission of light in optical fibers are traditionally based on total internal reflection (TIR). A high-index core surrounded by a low-index cladding has been the most basic requirement for all long-distance optical waveguides. However, within the last two years a novel class of optical fibers, allowing leakage-free guidance of light in a low-index core region, has emerged [1-4]. These fibers are operating by photonic bandgap (PBG) effects, which occur due to a periodic microstructuring of air holes in the cladding region [5]. Such PBG-fibers possess a number of properties separating them from conventional TIR-based fibers [1,4,6] - and represent a great potential for special fibers. To investigate the potential of PBG-fibers as basic transmission medium in future long-distance optical communication systems, we have previously presented an analysis of their dispersion properties [7], and found that they may be designed to exhibit flat, near zero dispersion over a broad wavelength range, or to exhibit a high anomalous dispersion while remaining single moded. To further investigate the potential of PBG-fibers, we present in this work an analysis of their polarization properties.
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