Transverse lightwave circuits in microstructured optical fibers: resonator arrays

Novel type of microstructured optical fiber couplers is introduced where energy transfer is enabled by transverse resonator arrays built into a fiber crossection. Such a design allows unlimited spatial separation between interacting fiber cores which, in turn, eliminates inter-core crosstalk via proximity coupling, thus enabling scalable integration of many fiber cores. Moreover, in the limit of weak inter-resonator coupling, resonator arrays exhibit moderate polarization dependence. (c) 2006 Optical Society of America.