Effects of depressed cladding on the transmission characteristics of single-mode fibers with graded-index profiles.

Parametric studies were done on the propagation characteristics of single-mode fiber using measured refractive-index profile data. Two types of profile were considered--a graded-index core with a depressed cladding (Delta' < 0), and a triangular index core with no depressed cladding. The computations employ accurate material dispersion data for the germania-doped silica core and the fluorine-doped silica cladding. The investigation also includes the use of an alpha-index profile as an idealized profile using the same computational method. We find that there is good agreement with the experiments.