2021 PhotonIcs & Electromagnetics Research Symposium (PIERS), Hangzhou, China, 22 November

Modal Analysis and Propagation Properties of the Multilayered

Circular Optical Fiber
P. S. Anisimov, V. S. Motolygin, V. V. Zemlyakov, and J. Gao
Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd., Russian Research Institute, Russia
2021 Photonics & Electromagnetics Research Symposium (PIERS) | 978-1-7281-7247-7/21/$31.00 ©2021 IEEE | DOI: 10.1109/PIERS53385.2021.9694709

Abstract— We propose an alternative approach for solving modes of optical fibers with az-
imuthal symmetry. We approximate arbitrary smooth profile functions by that of a multi step-
index fiber with up to thousands of steps. We analytically establish a transcendental eigenvalue
equation and solve it numerically using a fast algorithm of linear complexity with respect to the
number of steps. We show accordance between our multi step-index mode solver and other tech-
niques. Compared to the finite-difference method, our method yields results of higher calculation
accuracy within mere seconds. To highlight high optimization potential of the algorithm, we
consider a GRIN fiber and optimize differential mode group delay of 10 LP modes.
1. INTRODUCTION
Mode division multiplexing (MDM) in multimode fibers (MFFs) has drawn great attention in
recent years, since it is deemed to be a possible solution for the foreseen single mode fiber (SMF)
capacity crunch [1–7]. In this regard, optimization of the fiber profile function is of paramount
importance, as it tremendously affects propagation properties of a MMF. For the most part of
optimization-related tasks, either the finite-difference method (FDM) [8–10] or the finite-element
method (FEM) [11, 12] are used. These schemes imply spatial discretization of the fiber cross-
section. They have been proven to deliver accurate results for systems that enable no analytical
description [13–17]. Nevertheless, computational time and capacity demand of these techniques
scale dramatically with discretization rate. It is especially important for complex highly-alternating
profiles and strongly limits optimization potential of these methods. Moreover, they do not provide
control over initial intermodal phase shifts and yield uncontrollable polarization angles in the case
of cylindrically symmetric structures. These issues could lead to computational errors in calculation
of mode coupling coefficients.
On the other hand, multilayered or multi step-index fibers (MSI), first introduced as a possible
geometry in polymer optical fibers (POF) [18, 19], could be a reasonable alternative to approximat-
ing arbitrary smooth profiles with azimuthal symmetry. MSI is given by a set of concentric annular
SIFs of individual widths and values of the refractive index. Having analytcal solutions for MSIs
with an arbitrary number of steps could be profitable, since such systems are equivalent to realistic
fabricated fibers with smooth profile functions. There have been attempts to solve multilayered
systems [20–24]. However, one typically introduces either limiting simplifications to the model or
uses inefficient algorithms of exponential or even factorial complexity with respect to the number
of steps.
In this work, we expand the applicability boundaries of MSI fibers by introducing the multi step-
index mode solver (MSIMS). We formulate a general eigenvalue problem for multilayered systems
with azimuthal symmetry. We use a novel mode solving algorithm of quasi-linear complexity with
respect to the number of steps. We demonstrate that MSIMS can handle highly discretized systems
and needs mere seconds to solve modes of a MSI with up to several thousand steps.

Figure 1: Refractive index pattern of an arbitrary MSI with N steps.

Authorized licensed use limited to: INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY DELHI. Downloaded on December 05,2023 at 15:01:04 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
1198
 2021 PhotonIcs & Electromagnetics Research Symposium (PIERS), Hangzhou, China, 22 November

2. MODEL FORMULATION
We consider a cylindrical optical fiber aligned along the z-axis. Time dependence of the fields we
assume as eiωt . The refractive index of the MSI fiber is given by (see Fig. 1)

n1
 0 < r < a1 ,
n(r) = ns as−1 < r < as , (1)


nN +1 r > aN .
In what follows we assume s = 2 . . . N , a0 = 0, and aN +1 = +∞. The fields E(r, ϕ, z) and
H(r, ϕ, z) are obtained from the Helmholtz equation in the cylindrical coordinates by separation of
variables [25]
E(r, ϕ, z) = E(r)ei(lϕ−βz) , H(r, ϕ, z) = H(r)ei(lϕ−βz) (2)
and satisfy the equation
d2 Ψ dΨ ¡ 2 2 ¢
r2 2 + r + χ r − l2 Ψ = 0, (3)
dr dr
where Ψ refers to either E or H, l is the azimuthal number, β is the propagation constant and
χ2 = ω 2 µ0 ε0 ε − β 2 with ε(r) = n2 (r). Both vectors E(r) and H(r) fulfill the continuity condition
for the tangential field components to the surface r = as , s = 1, . . . , N . In the interval (as−1 , as ),
s = 1, . . . , N + 1, the scalar Equation (3) is the Bessel or the modified Bessel equation. Its solution
is a linear combination of the two functions:
( ( (
Jl (rχs ), χs > 0 Yl (rχs ), χs > 0 1 χ2s > 0,
jl (αs rχs ) = yl (αs rχs ) = αs =
Il (−irχs ), −iχs > 0 Kl (−irχs ), −iχs > 0 −i χ2s < 0
where Jl (x), Il (x) (Yl (x), Kl (x)) are the Bessel and the modified Bessel functions of the first (second)
kind, χ2s = ω 2 µ0 ε0 εs − β 2 and εs = n2s .
The z-components of E(r) and H(r) for r ∈ (as−1 , as ) are
Ez (r) = Fs jl (αs rχs ) + Gs yl (αs rχs )
(4)
Hz (r) = Us jl (αs rχs ) + Vs yl (αs rχs )
where Fs , Gs , Us and Vs are unknown coefficients. Expressions for Eϕ , Hϕ read as [25]:
Fs βl Gs βl Us iωµ0 αs 0 Vs iωµ0 αs 0
Eϕ (r) = 2
jl + 2
yl + jl + yl ,
rχs rχs χs χs
(5)
Fs iωεs αs 0 Gs iωεs αs 0 Us βl Vs βl
Hϕ (r) = − jl − yl + jl + yl
χs χs rχ2s rχ2s
where the argument in r.h.s. is still (αs rχs ) and primes denote derivatives with respect to it. Since
the fields are finite at r = 0, we set G1 = V1 = 0. On the other hand, the fields exhibit exponential
decay for r → ∞ which makes FN +1 = UN +1 = 0 and yl (αN +1 rχN +1 ) = Kl (−irχN +1 ). For guided
modes holds: √ √
ωnN +1 µ0 ε0 < β < ω max ns µ0 ε0 (6)
1≤s≤N
Continuity of the tangential fields at each interlayer boundary yields a (4N − 4) × (4N − 4)
system of linear equations
ΓB = 0, (7)
where
 
AJ O O ... O O
 P2 −M2 O ... O O 
 
O P −M . . . O O 
 3 3 
 . . . . . 

Γ =  .. . . . .  (8)
. . ... . . 
 
O O O . . . −MN −2 O 
 
O O O . . . PN −1 −MN −1 
O O O ... O AK
B = (F2 , G2 , U2 , V2 . . . FN , GN , UN , VN )T , (9)
Authorized licensed use limited to: INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY DELHI. Downloaded on December 05,2023 at 15:01:04 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
1199
 2021 PhotonIcs & Electromagnetics Research Symposium (PIERS), Hangzhou, China, 22 November

where AJ, AK are 2 × 4, Ps , Ms are 4 × 4 matrices correspondingly and B is a (4N − 4) column

vector. Entries of the matrix (8) comprise various combinations of the Bessel functions. Propagation
constants can be found from the condition det Γ = 0. We use a fast and original algorithm for solving
this transcendental equation. In general, its computation time scales with N as O(N ). Moreover,
in the weakly-guiding approximation one can reduce dimensions of the problem by the factor of 2.
As an example, we consider a triangular profile function and approximate it with a MSI. We
vary the number of steps between 5 and 1000 and measure the computation time for calculating
propagation constants of the first 15 LP modes. We use a regular laptop (Intel Core i7, Dual Core,
2.3 GHz). Fig. 2 demonstrates quasi-linear dependence, whereby the curve represents polynomial
fitting of averaging over 12 launches. Thus, MSIMS allows to consider systems with thousands of
steps, i.e., those that are structurally equivalent to fabricated fibers with smooth profile functions.

(a) (b) (c)

Figure 2: (a) Computation times for calculating 15 LP modes of a triangular profile vs. number of steps.
(b) Profile function n1 and corresponding LPl1 modes for l = 0, 1, 2, 3.

3. MSIMS AND FDM

We compared results of MSIMS and FDM for various settings. We consider the profile function
n1 = [1.42, 1.43, 1.42, 1.41, 1.4], R = [5, 15, 20, 25] µm (see Fig. 2) and calculate propagation
constants using both FDM with Ng × Ng grids, where Ng = 800, 1000, 1600, 3000 points, and
MSIMS. Table 1 illustrates convergence of propagation constants obtained by FDM towards those
of MSIMS. Nevertheless, computation time of Ng = 3000 FDM is almost two orders of magnitude
larger than that of MSIMS.
4. OPTIMIZED DMGD OF A GRIN FIBER
We consider the following GRIN refractive index profile [26]
(
n20 (1 − 2∆(r/R)α ) r ≤ R,
n2 (r) = (10)
n20 (1 − 2∆) r>R

where n0 refers to the maximum refractive index, R is the core radius, ∆ is the core-cladding
relative index difference. We set α = 2, ∆ = 0.01, R = 25 µm. We obtain the refractive index
of the cladding with help of the empirical Sellmeier formula and then use it and ∆ to get n0 . All
modes can be split into groups according to their quasi-degeneracy with respect to the propagation

Table 1: Propagation constant (×106 m−1 ) of the modes for the index profile n1 .

Ng 800 1000 1600 3000 Our result

LP01 8.719462 8.719469 8.719472 8.719472 8.719474
LP11 8.718789 8.718795 8.718798 8.718799 8.718800
LP21 8.716880 8.716882 8.716886 8.716887 8.716888
LP31 8.713972 8.713974 8.713978 8.713979 8.713981

Authorized licensed use limited to: INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY DELHI. Downloaded on December 05,2023 at 15:01:04 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
1200
 2021 PhotonIcs & Electromagnetics Research Symposium (PIERS), Hangzhou, China, 22 November

(a) (b) (c)

Figure 3: (a) Relative differences between the GRIN and MSIMS propagation constants for LP01 , LP11 ,
LP21 , LP02 , LP12 and LP31 modes versus the number of MSI steps N . (b) Relative differences between their
derivatives. (c) The effective indices of 10 modes for N = 10, 50 steps and those of the corresponding GRIN
fiber (offset from the cladding).

Figure 4: Refractive index pattern of an arbitrary MSI with N steps.

Table 2: Optimization results for N = 30.

Propagation constant βi , (×106 m−1 ) DMGD, ps/km

Mode
Init Opt GRIN Init Opt GRIN
LP01 8.641654 8.641650 8.641684 0.000 0.000 0.000
LP11 8.635989 8.635987 8.636022 1.361 0.755 3.173
LP21 8.630325 8.630327 8.630355 8.424 0.972 8.471
LP02 8.630323 8.630323 8.630355 6.635 0.183 8.471
LP31 8.624653 8.624664 8.624685 14.175 0.495 15.903
LP12 8.624653 8.624659 8.624685 14.087 1.510 15.903

constant. Corresponding values of the propagation constant at the wavelength λ read as

√
βg = n0 k 1 − 2∆x (11)

where µ ¶2α/(α+2)
x α 2π
x= √ , Nα = n2 k 2 R2 ∆, k= . (12)
Nα α+2 0 λ
We equally distribute the MSI steps within the GRIN fiber core. The refractive index values for each
step are taken as a mean between the outer and inner staircase approximations. Our calculations
for Nm = 10 LP modes reveal that the growth of the number of steps reduces the difference between
Authorized licensed use limited to: INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY DELHI. Downloaded on December 05,2023 at 15:01:04 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
1201
 2021 PhotonIcs & Electromagnetics Research Symposium (PIERS), Hangzhou, China, 22 November

the propagation constants obtained by each method. Figs. 3(a), (b) illustrate this fact by depicting
δβi = (βiGRIN − βiMSIMS )/βiGRIN and δβi0 = (βi0,GRIN − βi0,MSIMS )/βi0,GRIN , where β 0 ≡ ∂β/∂ω.
One can see that even N = 30 steps are sufficient to decently replicate propagation properties of
a GRIN fiber. Thus, we consider such an approximation and using the trust-region-reflective least-
squares (TRRLS) algorithm minimize differential mode group delay (DMGD) of the first 10 modes.
Optimization parameters are given by refractive index perturbations to the initial configuration.
The resulting fiber can be found in Fig. 4. Table 2 provides propagation constants as well as DMGD
values for the initial, optimized and GRIN profiles.

5. CONCLUSION
In this work, we proposed an alternative model for solving modes of optical fibers with azimuthal
symmetry. The method is based on MSI and is flexible with respect to layer radii and refractive
indices. We derived the exact transcendental equation for the eigenvalue problem and introduced a
fast root-finding procedure. The algorithm’s complexity depends on the number of steps in a linear
way, which allows consideration of thousands of steps. This fact makes the core refractive index
profile function to be arbitrary, including those with impurities and defects. We demonstrated
convergence of the finite-difference method to MSIMS. In the last Section we considered simple
optimization examples based on a conventional GRIN fiber. We showed that TRRLS applied to
MSIMS with thirty steps can come across a solution which minimizes DMGD of 10 LP modes.
The fact that the algorithm is fast and accurate, makes it suitable for more advanced optimization
tasks.
REFERENCES
1. Carpenter, J., B. C. Thomsen, and T. D. Wilkinson, “Degenerate mode-group division multi-
plexing,” J. Lightw. Technol., Vol. 30, No. 24, 3946–3952, Dec. 2012.
2. Molin, D., M. Bigot-Astruc, A. Amezcua-Correa, and P. Sillard, “Recent advances on MMFs
for WDM and MDM,” Proc. Opt. Fiber Commun. Conf., 1–3, Mar. 2018.
3. Riishede, J. and O. Sigmund, “Inverse design of dispersion compensating optical fiber using
topology optimization,” J. Opt. Soc. Amer. B, Vol. 25, No. 1, 88–97, Jan. 2008.
4. Winzer, P., “Making spatial multiplexing a reality,” Nature Photon., Vol. 8, 345–348, May
2014.
5. Sillard, P., M. Bigot-Astruc, and D. Molin, “Few-mode fibers for mode-division-multiplexed
systems,” J. Lightw. Technol., Vol. 32, No. 16, 2824–2829, Aug. 2014.
6. Li, J., Z. Wu, T. Hu, D. Ge, Y. Tian, Y. Zhang, L. Shen, Y. Liu, S. Chen, Z. Li, Z. Chen, and
Y. He, “Weakly-coupled mode-division-multiplexing systems and networks supporting large
quantity of independent modes,” 2017 16th Int. Conf. Opt. Commun., 1–3, Aug. 2017.
7. Bourdine, A. V. and V. A. Burdin, “DMGD reducing in few-mode fiber optic links by special
refractive index profile and selective mode excitation provided by designed MDM channels
placement scheme over fiber core end,” 2017 Progress In Electromagnetics Research Symposium
— Spring (PIERS), 1032–1038, St Petersburg, Russia, May 22–25, 2017.
8. Lusse, P., P. Stuwe, J. Schule, and H.-G. Unger, “Analysis of vectorial mode fields in optical
waveguides by a new finite difference method,” J. Lightw. Technol., Vol. 12, No. 3, 487–494,
Mar. 1994.
9. Lu, Y.-C., L. Yang, W.-P. Huang, and S.-S. Jian, “Improved full-vector finite-difference com-
plex mode solver for optical waveguides of circular symmetry,” J. Lightw. Technol., Vol. 26,
No. 13, 1868–1876, Aug. 2008.
10. Fallahkhair, A. B., K. S. Li, and T. E. Murphy, “Vector finite difference modesolver for
anisotropic dielectric waveguides,” J. Lightw. Technol., Vol. 26, No. 11, 1423–1431, 2008.
11. Dautov, R. and E. Karchevskii, “Simulation of weakly guiding optical fibers by finite element
method with exact boundary condition,” Int. Conf. Transparent Opt. Netw., 47–50, Jun. 2001.
12. Lee, H. J., F. Abdullah, S. Emami, and A. Ismail, “Fiber modeling and simulation of effective
refractive index for tapered fiber with finite element method,” IEEE Int. Conf. Photonics, 1–3,
Mar. 2016.
13. Kasahara, M., K. Saitoh, T. Sakamoto, N. Hanzawa, T. Matsui, K. Tsujikawa, and F. Ya-
mamoto, “Design of three-spatial-mode ring-core fiber,” J. Lightw. Technol., Vol. 32, No. 7,
1337–1343, Apr. 2014.
Authorized licensed use limited to: INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY DELHI. Downloaded on December 05,2023 at 15:01:04 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
1202
 2021 PhotonIcs & Electromagnetics Research Symposium (PIERS), Hangzhou, China, 22 November

14. Choutagunta, K. and J. M. Kahn, “Designing high-performance multimode fibers using refrac-
tive index optimization,” J. Lightw. Technol., Vol. 39, No. 1, 233–242, Jan. 2021.
15. Chen, X., M. J. Li, and D. R. Powers, “Multimode optical fiber and systems comprising such
fiber,” U.S. Patent 8 971 683B2, May 2015.
16. Bickham, S. R., G. E. Berkey, A. E. Korolev, M.-J. Li, and S. A. Lobanov, “Multimode optical
fiber and optical backplane using multimode optical fiber,” U.S. Patent 0 039 626A1, Feb.
2013.
17. Wang, S., Z. Zhou, Y. Liu, J. Xu, M. Fan, S. Zhang, and W. Wang, “Graded refractive index
bending-resistant multimode optical fiber,” U.S. Patent 9 297 953B2, Mar. 2016.
18. Iwasaki, O., “Multistep index optical fiber,” U.S. Patent 7 366 389B2, May 2007.
19. Bunge, C.-A., T. Gries, and M. Beckers, Polymer Optical Fibres Fibre Types, Materials, Fab-
rication, Characterisation and Applications, No. 89, ser. Woodhead Publishing Series in Elec-
tronic and Optical Materials, Woodhead Publishing, Sep. 2016.
20. Yeh, P., A. Yariv, and E. Marom, “Theory of bragg fiber,” J. Opt. Soc. Amer., Vol. 68, No. 9,
1196–1201, Sep. 1978.
21. Palodiya, V., S. Kumar, A. Kumar, and S. Raghuwanshi, “Dispersion properties of solid core
bragg fiber having an arbitary refractive index core profile for DWDM applications,” Interna-
tional Conference on Microwave and Photonics, Dec. 2013.
22. Anemogiannis, E. and E. N. Glytsis, “Multilayer waveguides: Efficient numerical analysis of
general structures,” J. Lightw. Technol., Vol. 10, No. 10, 1344–1351, Oct. 1992.
23. Zubia, J., G. Aldabaldetreku, G. Durana, J. Arrue, C.-A. Bunge, and H. Poisel, “Geometric
optics analysis of multi-step index optical fibers,” Fiber Integr. Opt., Vol. 23, No. 2, 121–156,
Mar. 2004.
24. Aldabaldetreku, G., G. Durana, J. Zubia, J. Arrue, H. Poisel, and M. A. Losada, “Investigation
and comparison of analytical, numerical, and experimentally measured coupling losses for
multi-step index optical fibers,” Opt. Express, Vol. 13, No. 11, 4012–4036, May 2005.
25. Marcuse, D., Theory of Dielectric Optical Waveguides, Academic Press, 2012.
26. Mafi, A., “Pulse propagation in a short nonlinear graded-index multimode optical fiber,”
J. Lightw. Technol., Vol. 30, No. 17, 2803–2811, Sep. 2012.

Authorized licensed use limited to: INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY DELHI. Downloaded on December 05,2023 at 15:01:04 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
1203