title: Comparative study of the effective single mode operational bandwidth in sub-wavelength optical wires and conventional single-mode fibers.
abstract: We present the first experimental comparison of effective single mode operation bandwidth in sub-wavelength optical wires (SOWs) and conventional single-mode fibers (SMFs). The full transmission spectrum, half-turn bend loss and mode field diameter were measured and compared for a variety of SMFs of different cut-off wavelength and a SOW. The SOW was shown to offer an enormously broadband single-mode operation bandwidth with a larger mode field area than the SMFs. Applications of SOWs include fiber lasers, sensors, photolithography and optical coherence tomography amongst others.
authors.affiliation: Optoelectronics Research Centre, University of Southampton, Southampton, SO17 1BJ, UK. ymj@orc.soton.ac.uk
authors.forename: Yongmin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Jung
authors.forename: Gilberto
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Brambilla
authors.forename: David J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Richardson