Influence of cladding tube structure on transmission characteristics of negative curvature terahertz fiber

Abstract

A novel type of polarization negative curvature terahertz fiber has been designed, which has a cladding region composed of two long semi-circular cladding tubes in the horizontal direction and four long semi-elliptical cladding tubes in the oblique direction. The optimal fiber dimensions are determined to investigate the internal relationship between polarization characteristics and fiber cladding structure. The transmission performances of the negative curvature fiber are investigated by varying the thickness of fiber cladding tubes and adjusting the structural characteristics of cladding tubes in different directions. Relatively good transmission performances can be obtained with a cladding tube thickness of 80 μm. The birefringence can be stably maintained at the order of 10⁻⁴, and the confinement loss of the x-polarized mode at 2.55 THz is 0.036 dB cm⁻¹. Moreover, the dispersion coefficient of the two polarized modes is stable between ±0.6 ps (THz·cm)⁻¹ in the 2.3–2.6 THz band. The bent performance of the designed fiber at 2.52 THz is also discussed. The results show that the fiber has low bending sensitivity, and can still maintain excellent birefringence and low confinement loss in the bending state. For the y polarization, the birefringence can be basically stabilized at the order of 10⁻⁴ within a bending radius of 10–60 cm.