title: Air-core photonic band-gap fibers: the impact of surface modes.
abstract: We study the dispersion and leakage properties for the recently reported low-loss photonic band-gap fiber by Smith et al. [Nature 424, 657 (2003)]. We find that surface modes have a significant impact on both the dispersion and leakage properties of the fundamental mode. Our dispersion results are in qualitative agreement with the dispersion profile reported recently by Ouzounov et al. [Science 301, 1702 (2003)] though our results suggest that the observed long-wavelength anomalous dispersion is due to an avoided crossing (with surface modes) rather than band-bending caused by the photonic band-gap boundary of the cladding.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Saitoh
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Mortensen
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Koshiba