NASA Logo

NTRS

NTRS - NASA Technical Reports Server

Back to Results
Theory of biaxial graded-index optical fiberA biaxial graded-index fiber with a homogeneous cladding is studied. Two methods, wave equation and matrix differential equation, of formulating the problem and their respective solutions are discussed. For the wave equation formulation of the problem it is shown that for the case of a diagonal permittivity tensor the longitudinal electric and magnetic fields satisfy a pair of coupled second-order differential equations. Also, a generalized dispersion relation is derived in terms of the solutions for the longitudinal electric and magnetic fields. For the case of a step-index fiber, either isotropic or uniaxial, these differential equations can be solved exactly in terms of Bessel functions. For the cases of an istropic graded-index and a uniaxial graded-index fiber, a solution using the Wentzel, Krammers and Brillouin (WKB) approximation technique is shown. Results for some particular permittivity profiles are presented. Also the WKB solutions is compared with the vector solution found by Kurtz and Streifer. For the matrix formulation it is shown that the tangential components of the electric and magnetic fields satisfy a system of four first-order differential equations which can be conveniently written in matrix form. For the special case of meridional modes, the system of equations splits into two systems of two equations. A general iterative technique, asymptotic partitioning of systems of equations, for solving systems of differential equations is presented. As a simple example, Bessel's differential equation is written in matrix form and is solved using this asymptotic technique. Low order solutions for particular examples of a biaxial and uniaxial graded-index fiber are presented. Finally numerical results obtained using the asymptotic technique are presented for particular examples of isotropic and uniaxial step-index fibers and isotropic, uniaxial and biaxial graded-index fibers.
Document ID
19900017336
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Thesis/Dissertation
Authors
Kawalko, Stephen F.
(Chicago Univ. Chicago, IL, United States)
Date Acquired
September 6, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 1990
Subject Category
Optics
Report/Patent Number
NAS 1.26:186882
NASA-CR-186882
Accession Number
90N26652
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NAG2-544
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.
No Preview Available