Experimental and numerical investigation of polarization properties in photonic crystal fibers

In this contribution, we measure and compare the polarization properties of 3-D photonic crystal fibers and of a classic single-mode polarization maintaining fiber. The polarization-maintaining property depends on the cross-section geometry of the fiber and is therefore related to the strong intrinsic birefringence and to the well-defined principal axis of the fiber. (c) 2006 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers.