A method of making a microstructured optical fiber including loading the core and cladding materials of the fiber with hydrogen and deuterium at a loading temperature; annealing the fiber at a selected temperature T.sub.anneal; pumping the fiber with radiation; and reducing the temperature of the fiber and storing the fiber at the reduced temperature before the step of pumping the fiber; and wherein the method allows the hydrogen and the deuterium to become bound to the core material and the cladding material.

An optical fiber that is a photonic crystal fiber in which a plurality of holes is arranged along a longitudinal direction of the optical fiber, having a predetermined bending radius R determined according to a transmission distance L of the optical fiber and optical power output from the optical fiber, and having an inter-hole distance and a ratio d/ between a hole diameter d and the inter-hole distance such that light of a predetermined number of modes is transmitted and a bending loss of the light of a fundamental mode with the predetermined bending radius R is equal to or smaller than a predetermined value.

A method of making a microstructured optical fiber including loading the core and cladding materials of the fiber with hydrogen and deuterium at a loading temperature; annealing the fiber at a selected temperature T.sub.anneal; pumping the fiber with radiation; and reducing the temperature of the fiber and storing the fiber at the reduced temperature before the step of pumping the fiber; and wherein the method allows the hydrogen and the deuterium to become bound to the core material and the cladding material.

An optical fiber that has an air layer in a clad portion and can suppress a degradation in a transmission characteristic caused by a support member present in the air layer is provided. The optical fiber includes a core (1), tubular layers (22 to 25) concentrically arranged around the core (1) via the air layer, and support members (3a to 3l) that are arranged to the air layer and connect the core (1) with the tubular layers (22 to 25), and in the optical fiber, in a cross-sectional view of a longitudinal direction of the optical fiber, a distance between support members (3a to 3l) in a circumferential direction of the optical fiber is wider than a double thickness of the air layer in which the support members (3a to 3l) are arranged.

There is provided an optical waveguide apparatus. The optical waveguide apparatus includes: a first clad layer; a core layer formed on the first clad layer; and a second clad layer formed on the first clad layer to cover the core layer. At least one of the first clad layer and the second clad layer includes a fully cured portion and a semi-cured portion.

A light-diffusing optical fiber with a light-guiding core having a plurality of elongated glass rods each oriented substantially parallel with each other and with the length of the optical fiber. The fiber also includes a cladding surrounding the glass core, the cladding having a refractive index similar to, or lower than, a refractive index of the glass core. The light-guiding core includes a plurality of gaps formed between the plurality of elongated glass rods, the plurality of gaps scattering light away from the light-guiding core and through the cladding.

Embodiments are directed to a single mode optical fiber. The optical fiber comprises, from the center to the periphery: a central core having a first refractive index, a pedestal region having a second refractive index, a trench region having a third refractive index, and a cladding region having a fourth refractive index. The third refractive index is less than the second refractive index.

A coupled-core multi-core fiber in which an inter-core distance is stabilized is manufactured. A method of manufacturing a coupled-core multi-core fiber includes forming a second cladding base material by depositing glass particulates on an outer periphery of a first cladding base material and sintering the glass particulates. The first cladding base material has a hydroxyl group concentration that is less than or equal to 10 ppb; obtaining a ground rod by grinding an outer periphery of the second cladding base material; and forming holes in the first cladding base material in the ground rod, inserting a core base material into each of the holes, and obtaining an assembly.

A single-core polarization-maintaining dispersion compensation micro-structured optical fiber comprises a fiber core, a first layer of air holes surrounding the fiber core, the cladding defects on the x-axis, the cladding defects on the y-axis, and the cladding. The air holes in the fiber cross section are arranged in the equilateral triangle lattice. Three consecutive air holes are omitted to form a solid area. This solid area is the fiber core. There are two cladding defects along the x-axis. Their centers are respectively located at the two vertices of the hexagon on the x-axis, which is formed by the fourth air hole ring from the core exclusive the central air hole. Each cladding defect along the x-axis contains 7 air holes and goes through from the core by only 1 layer of air holes. There are also two cladding defects along the y-axis.

The invention relates to a microstructured optical fiber for generating supercontinuum light upon feeding of pump light. The light can be incoherent light. The microstructured optical fiber has a first section and a second section, where the first and second sections have one or more different features. The invention also relates to a supercontinuum source comprising a microstructured optical fiber according to the invention.