Microstructured cladding elements to enhance performance and flexibility of large mode area fibers

Large mode area fibers are imperative for scaling up the average power of fiber lasers. Single-mode behavior and low FM loss are the crucial functionalities for these fibers. However, for key applications such as picosecond pulsed lasers, the device length needs to at least a few meters. This makes a certain degree of bend tolerance a prerequisite in the fiber design. While rod-type PCFs have been very successful in offering large mode areas, their rigid configuration limits their application domain. Alternatively, leakage channel fibers (LCFs) have shown a great potential for offering substantial bend tolerance along with large mode areas. However, the proposed use of Fluorine-doped rods in the all-solid version limits their practical design space. Here, we propose a novel design concept to attain single-material, large mode area fibers (mode area >~ 1000µm2) with effectively single mode operation coupled with bending characteristics comparable to all-solid LCFs and greater design flexibility and easier splicing that is comparable to rod-type PCFs.