Analysis of a Multifunctional Dual-Core Photonic Crystal Fiber for Optical Communications

A multifunctional hexagonal lattice dual-core photonic crystal fiber (DC-PCF) with elliptical air-hole around the cores is designed for optical communications. Numerical analysis of the proposed structure suggests that the DC- PCF is highly birefringent and single-moded in the standard operating wavelengths of optical communications. It can be used as a polarization splitter for the two orthogonal modes at a length of 39.8 mm at 1550 nm wavelength, and as a WDM MUX-DeMUX for both horizontal and vertical polarization fundamental modes at the lengths of 9.9 mm and 16.65 mm, respectively, to separate the 1300 nm and 1550 nm wavelengths. Hence, the proposed DC-PCF, with a low splice loss of around 3 dB at 1300 nm and 1550 nm wavelength windows, is suitable for applications in integrated and compact optical communications systems where multifunctional and short optical and photonic devices are required.