title: Polymer-clad silica fibers for tailoring modal area and dispersion.
abstract: We demonstrate higher-order-mode (Aeffup to ∼2000  μm2) propagation in a 100 μm outer diameter pure-silica fiber with a low-index polymer jacket commonly used for fiber laser pump guidance. This simple structure obviates the need for complex designs deemed necessary for realizing large-mode-area fibers. Modes ranging from HE1,12to HE1,22were found to propagate stably over 15 m in this fiber. The index step is approximately 4 times larger than that obtained with fluorine down doping; thus the fiber supports even higher-order modes, which may have implications for building rare-earth-doped fiber lasers or achieving enhanced dispersion tunability for high-energy fiber nonlinear phenomena.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Rishøj
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Demas
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gregg
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Prabhakar
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hawkins
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ballato
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ramachandran