A simple and rapid method is described for determining the refractive index profile of an optical fiber by observation of the near-field intensity distribution. It is shown that in many cases the presence of tunnelling leaky modes is unavoidable and that these cause a length-dependent error in the measurement. A correction factor is developed which may be applied to the measured intensity profile once the fiber length, core diameter, and numerical aperture are known. Examples are given of measurements made on both step and graded-index fibers.
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