Dispersion and birefringence of irregularly microstructured fiber with an elliptic core

We have investigated the dispersion and birefringence of an irregularly microstructured fiber with an elliptic silica core and irregular airholes. The polarization-dependent output power through the fiber reveals two well-defined principal-axis modes despite the irregularity of airholes. The dispersion of the fiber is measured in the range of 680 to 1000 nm using the Mach-Zehnder interferometric technique with sub-10 fs laser pulses, which yield two zero dispersion wavelengths at 683 and 740 nm for the two principal modes, respectively. The birefringence measured using the wavelength scanning method is about 0.0055 at 800 nm. It is also demonstrated that this irregularly microstructured fiber with high birefringence and short zero dispersion wavelength is useful for the one-octave-spanning supercontinuum generation suitable for an f-2f interferometric system. © 2007 Optical Society of America.