title: Finite-element modal analysis of large-core multimode optical fibers.
abstract: Plastic optical fibers that are a typical large-core multimode optical fiber support a great number of modes compared with conventional silica-glass multimode optical fibers. So far the WKB method hasbeen used for most of the modal analyses of these fibers because of a great number of guided modes. We describe the accurate eigenmodal analysis of large-core multimode optical fibers with the finite-element method (FEM) and compute the propagation constants of all LP modes. In addition, the FEM has a strong advantage for arbitrary core profiles whereas the WKB method is not suitable fornonmonotonic profiles. To demonstrate the advantage, we apply the FEM to the fiber having sinusoidal fluctuations.
authors.affiliation: Chitose Institute of Science and Technology, Chitose, Hokkaido 066-8655, Japan. megu@paical.spub.chitose.ac.jp
authors.forename: Masashi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Eguchi
authors.forename: Suguru
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Horinouchi