Low loss broadband transmission in hypocycloid-core Kagome hollow-core photonic crystal fiber

We report on the fabrication of a seven-cell-core and three-ring-cladding large-pitch Kagome-lattice hollow-core photonic crystal fiber (HC-PCF) with a hypocycloid-shaped core structure. We demonstrate experimentally and theoretically that the design of this core shape enhances the coupling inhibition between the core and cladding modes and offers optical attenuation with a baseline of similar to 180 dB/km over a transmission bandwidth larger than 200 THz. This loss figure rivals the state-of-the-art photonic bandgap HC-PCF while offering an approximately three times larger bandwidth and larger mode areas. Also, it beats the conventional circular-core-shaped Kagome HC-PCF in terms of the loss. The development of this novel (to our knowledge) HC-PCF has potential for a number of applications in which the combination of a large optical bandwidth and a low loss is a prerequisite. (C) 2011 Optical Society of America