Transverse Anderson Localization Enhancement for Low-Filling-Rate Glass-Air Disordered Fibers by Optimizing the Diameter of Air Holes

We demonstrate a method to enhance the transverse Anderson localization (TAL) effect of the glass-air disordered optical fiber (G-DOF) by adjusting the number and diameter of air holes. This method does not need to enlarge the air-filling fraction of G-DOF, leading to the mitigation of fabrication complexity. By choosing the appropriate diameter and number of air holes, the average localized beam radius of G-DOF with the highest air-filling fraction of 30% can be successfully reduced by 18%. Moreover, the proposed method is always functional for the situations of the air-filling fraction lower than 50%. We also identify that, under the same air-filling fraction, a larger number of air holes in the G-DOF leads to the smaller standard deviation of the corresponding localized beam radius, indicating a stable fiber structure. The results will provide new guidance on the G-DOF design.

Automated summary

This study demonstrates a method to enhance the transverse Anderson localization effect of glass-air disordered optical fiber by adjusting the number and diameter of air holes. By choosing the appropriate parameters, the localized beam radius of the fiber can be successfully reduced, even at lower air-filling fractions.