JOURNAL OF LIGHTWAVE TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 9, NO.
11, NOVEMBER 1991
Modes in Divergent Parabolic Graded-Index Optical
Fibers
Richard L. Lachance and Pierre-AndrC BClanger, Member, IEEE
Abstract-This paper discusses an optical fiber characterized
by a core of divergent parabolic graded-index profile. A gen-
eral formulation is developed to study this fiber as well as other
types, including standard step-index and convergent parabolic
profiles. An analytical approach is developed to solve the basic
differential propagation equation. The solution takes the form
of a summation of Bessel functions. An algorithm is pro-
grammed and simulations are carried out. Main characteristics
of divergent profile fibers like propagation constant, disper-
sion, and power distribution are presented and compared with
those of standard fibers. It is found that the principal mode
LPol exhibits a flat top distribution that better fills core’s fiber,
suggesting possible applications for laser fibers and amplifiers.
I. INTRODUCTION
G RADED-INDEX profile fibers have been extensively
analyzed since the advent of fiber optics for com-
munication. The main objective of these analysis was to
find an optimum profile that could minimize intermodal
dispersion. Such a profile is close to a parabolic profile
where the on axis refractive index is larger than the re-
fractive index at the core-cladding interface. This type of
convergent profile has been analyzed by means of various
analytical and numerical methods [ 11-[4]. Graded-index
profile fiber has also been analyzed in order to study the
effect of small perturbations around a given profile.
For example, the effect of the dip at the center of the
core of a step-index profile following the collapse of the
preform in the MCVD process has been studied by several
authors [ 5 ] . Such a dip results in a local divergent index
profile near the center of fiber core and its effect is now
well understood. Here we study a global divergent index
profile for the core of an optical fiber with the objective
of designing an optical fiber having a more uniform fun-
damental mode intensity distribution. In active fibers, a
better uniformity of the field into the core for the pump
and the signal will result in larger efficiency of energy
conversion.
Manuscript received January 16, 1991. R. L. Lachance was supported
in part by a grant from the Fonds pour la Formation de Chercheurs et I’Aide
i la Recherche (FCAR) and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research
Council of Canada (NSERC).
The authors are with the Departement de Physique, Universite Lava1
COPL, Sainte-Foy, Canada G l K 7P4.
IEEE Log Number 9102579.
0733-8724/91/1100-1425$01.00 0 1991 IEEE
__
1425
11. GENERALIZED PARABOLIC INDEX PROFILE
This paper presents the analysis of weakly guiding fi-
bers having a parabolic index profile in the core defined
as follows:
r > a.
The parabolic profile is defined with two parameters,
the standard relative step index A :
and a characteristic curvature parameter N :
N7e
n -
(3)
nl - n2
where n, is the refractive index at the core-cladding in-
terface. Fig. 1 depicts such a profile for different values
of the curvature parameter N . The standard step-index fi-
ber corresponds to N = 0 (Fig. l(a)), while positive val-
ues of N define convergent index profiles. The profile N
= 1 (Fig. l(b)) is the parabolic profile which has been
most extensively studied [3]. When N > 1 the convergent
profile shows a valley at the core-cladding interface (Fig.
l(c)), while for N < 1 the convergent profile shows a
relative step (nl - n,) (Fig. l(d)) [ 5 , sec. 5.5.61. For
negative values of curvature parameter N the profile is
divergent. We are not aware that such a divergent profile
across the whole core has already been studied. The pres-
ent analysis will concentrate on the modes of such a di-
vergent profile fiber.
For a convergent profile such as the parabolic one, the
geometrical optic model predicts that rays will be bent
toward the axis (Fig. 2(a)) and confinement of modes can
be expected from the index profile alone. For the diver-
gent profile, geometrical rays will be bent toward the
cladding exponentially (Fig. 2(b)), and no geometric con-
finement is expected. This type of graded fiber will have
modes guided by the refractive step index (n, - n2) as in
a standard step-index fiber (Fig. 2(c)). This brief geo-
metrical analysis already suggests that such a divergent
index profile can have a mode profile larger than for the
step-index fiber.
~
1426 JOURNAL OF LIGHTWAVE TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 9, NO. 11, NOVEMBER 1991

111. MATHEMATICAL ANALYSIS

For the weakly guiding condition Ina - n21 << 1 and
A << [ 5 ] , [6] the normal modes of the fiber are linearly
polarized ones (quasi-TEM) [ 5 , ch. 41 and transverse
fields E T and HT which are orthogonal can be expressed
as follows:
= ~ ( , . ) ~ i ( w t - P z ) cos U0 + 00) (4)
H T = (l / q ) ET (5)
where 1 is the azimuthal number (1 = 0, 1, 2, * * 0 the
e ) ,

angular position (+o = 0 or ~ / 2 and ) q the impedance of

the medium.
The fields can be calculated by the scalar radial func-
tion R ( r ) satisfying the following differential equation [7]-
[93 :

- p2 - - R
r2
z2

where 0 is the propagation constant determined by the

1 = 0 (6)

continuity of the radial function R and its derivative dR/dr

at the core-cladding interface, namely
(a)core = R(a)cladding (7)
T
a
N < O

(e)
Fig. 1. Different types of graded-index fibers described by the generalized
For a guided mode, the solution into the cladding n ( r ) =
parabolic equation (1). Convergent profiles correspond to positive curva- n2 must be exponentially decaying for large radial posi-
ture parameters N while divergent profiles correspond to negative values tions ( r --* 03). The solution is thus the same as for the
of N. The step-index fiber is described by curvature parameter N = 0.
step-index fiber, namely Hankel function Kl :
R(r)cladding = cK/(wr) (9)
where
w2 = 0' - n i k i . (10)
For the general parabolic index profile ( l ) , differential
Convergent parabolic fiber
equation (6) becomes
(a)
$]R
(Uay - NV2p2 - - = 0 (11)

V \,
with
N < O

Divergent parabolic fiber

p = : ( O s p s l )
(b)

'U = n:ki - p2. (12)

\ \ , '
It is convenient to introduce the usual normalized fre-
N = O
quency
Step index fiber
V 2 = kia2(n: - ni). (13)
(C)
Fig. 2. Trajectories of rays in generalized parabolic profile fibers. The solution of this equation which is finite at p = 0 is

We will make here a unified analysis of linearly polar-

ized modes for this general parabolic profile and concen-
trate our study on the behavior of the fundamental mode
for various values of curvature parameter N with emphasis
on the divergent profile (N < 0).
 ~

LACHANCE AND BELANGER: MODES IN DIVERGENT PARABOLIC OPTICAL FIBERS 1421

where I Fl is a confluent hypergeometric function [ 10, ch.

151. For the particular case of convergent profile N = 1 ,
Garside er al. [ 113 have already discussed the solution
using a similar mathematical form. In the case of the di-
vergent profile, N is negative, hence one of the parameters
of the confluent hypergeometric function is complex.
Consequently, the power series expansion of the radial
function will include complex gamma functions. It has
been found more practical to expand the confluent hyper-
geometric function as a sum of Bessel functions [lo, t . . , . I . . . . I , , . . I ,
13.3.71 -1.5 -1.0 -0.5 0.0

m Profile cuwature N

Fig. 3 . Transition frequency as a function of curvature of profile.

profile ( N < 0), the guided mode condition becomes n2kO

< /3 < nakO,which results in N V 2 < ( u u ) ~< V 2 . For
this case, transverse propagation constant u2 becomes
negative, or U becomes imaginary, because we have de-
fined normalized frequency V relative to n , and n2 instead
of n, and n2. This means that one should also look for
B, = -NV2 [ ( n
n (ua12
+ 1 - 1)Bn-2 - 2 B,,-3]j .
imaginary solutions of characteristic equation (19) when
N < 0. When U is imaginary, we have found more prac-
(16) tical to use the identity Jn(ix) = i"Z,(x) [lo, 9.6.31, where
I,,is the modified real Bessel function.
The continuity relations for R and its derivative be- For the range N V 2 < ( u u ) ~< 0, the following real
comes: characteristic equation has been used:
m
m
CK/(wa) = A C
n=O
BnJl+,(ua)

(wa)CK;(wa)= A c Bn[nJl,,(ua) + uaJ;+,(ua)].

n=O

(18) where
The characteristic equation for the propagation constant
is given by
m
It is therefore useful to first find for what value of V the
(wa)K/- I (wa)n = O Bn J/ + n (ua)
form of the characteristic equation must be changed. This
m turning point corresponds to finding the value of V where
= -K/(wa) c B,(u~)J/+,-l(ua)
n=O
(19) ua = 0. First, it can be shown that for U = 0 function I FI
transforms into the following Bessel function [ 10, 13.6.41:
r

where the derivatives of K , and Jnhave been eliminated

using recurrence relations of Bessel functions [ 10, ch. 91.
For the step-index profile ( N = 0), (16) shows that all
recurrence parameters B, are zero for n 2 1 and the only This result can also be obtained by solving the differential
nonnegative parameter is Bo. Therefore for N = 0, the equation for U = 0. Using simplified solution (22), the
radial function becomes R ( r ) = AJ,(ur) and characteristic characteristic equation becomes
equation (19) becomes identical to the well-known equa-
tion for step-index [5, ch. 41 [6]. For the step-index fiber
(N = 0), the propagation constant /3 for a guided mode is
such that n2k0 < /3 < n l k O ,which gives 0 < ( u u ) ~<
V 2 . All possible values of (ua) are thus real and can be
calculated with characteristic equation (19). For conver-
gent profile fibers ( N > 0), guided modes are obtained For a given negative value of curvature parameter N , this
for 0 < ( u u ) ~< N V 2 and once more (19) is suitable for transcendal equation gives the value of parameter V for
numerical calculation. However, for the divergent index which characteristic equation (20) must be used instead of

c
1428 JOURNAL OF LIGHTWAVE TECHNOLOGY, VOL. 9, NO. 11, NOVEMBER 1991

(19), and the radial function (22) instead of (15). This 2.0

relation of transition frequency V,, as a function of the

curvature parameter N is plotted in Fig. 3. It will be useful
N=l
1
for the numerical calculation of the characteristic equa-
tion. The transition frequency goes to infinity as curvature
N tends to zero, and becomes smaller as N becomes neg-
ative, as shown in Fig. 3.

IV. MONOMODE ANALYSIS

It is well known that a convergent index parabolic pro-
0.0 1.o 2.0 3.0 4.0
file largely reduces intermodal dispersion in the multi- Normalized frequency V
mode regime (large V values). As can be foreseen from Fig. 4. Normalized transverse phase constant in core (ua) of fundamental
the geometrical analysis, a divergent index profile will be- mode LP,, for different profiles.
have the opposite way, that is, it will increase intermodal
dispersion. Numerical solution of the characteristic equa- 1.465
tion has indeed shown that the group velocity of higher
order modes becomes more and more separated as the
magnitude of negative curvature parameter N is in- 1.460
creased. This type of optical fiber is certainly not suited
for long distance optical communication applications in
multimode regime. The present study will therefore be 1.455
restricted to the monomode regime.
The characteristic equation, written in the form (19) or
(20), has been solved using an inverse adiabatic method 1.450
[ 121 and the normalized transverse frequency (ua)calcu- 0.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0
lated. It is convenient to summarize all these results by Normalized frequency V

plotting parameter ( u u )/~V versus normalized frequency Fig. 5 . Effective index of fundamental mode LP,, for different profiles.
V , for the lowest order LPol mode, as shown in Fig. 4.
For small values of V , the transverse frequency is nearly 3.4
the same for all curvature parameters Nand disperses into
different values when V is increased. For negative cur- 5 3.0
vature parameters N, ( u u ) ~becomes negative at a certain >y
x
V number, namely the transition frequency predicted by 2 2.6
&
(23). It is at that transition zone that characteristic equa- b
r= 2.2
tion (19) is changed into (20). Using transverse frequency I

(ua),one can then compute propagation constant 6 or the 5

effective index of mode P / k o for given values of n1 and
n2, as shown in Fig. 5. This figure and all others that
appear in this paper are computed for refractive indexes
with chosen values of nl = 1.46 and n2 = 1.45 that sat-
isfy the weakly guiding approximation (A = 0.68%).
Normalized frequency V , where (ua) = 0 in Fig. 4, cor-
responds to an effective index P / k o equal to n , , indicated
by a horizontal dashed line, that is the free-space index.
In the limit of large frequencies, the wavelength becomes
very small and the mode is only affected by the maximum
refractive index in fiber’s core. This asymptotic value of
the effective index p / k 0 is nl for positive values of cur-
vature N, and n, for negative values of N , as expected
from geometrical optic analysis.
Cutoff frequency V, of the next higher mode LP,, is
derived from the characteristic equation
m we see that the new cutoff frequency increases for nega-
c B,J,+,-,(ua)= 0.
n=O
(24)
Variation of V, with N is shown in Fig. 6 for various
curvature parameters N . As already known, the cutoff fre-
quency is higher for convergent index profile (N > 0)
I .8
2 1 0 1
Profile curvature N
Fig. 6. Cutoff frequency of L P , , mode
than for the step-index fiber (N = 0). For negative cur-
vatures (N < 0), the cutoff frequency becomes smaller
than V, = 2.4. However, this does not mean that a mono-
mode divergent index profile must have a core diameter
smaller than the step fiber, because, in the present study,
normalized frequency parameter V (13) is defined with re-
spect to the index at the center of the core nl and in the
cladding n2, which is different from the value at the core-
cladding interface n,. Referring to a V number calculated
at the core-cladding, V,, = koa = V,=,
tive values of N, reaching V,, = 2.84 for N = -2 as an
indicative value, giving a broader principal mode as com-
pared to the step-index fiber.
A useful approximation, accurate within 2 % , has been
found for the cutoff frequency value of LP,, mode