Modeling of transmission characteristics in step-index polymer optical fiber using the matrix exponential method.

In this paper, we propose to calculate the impulse and frequency response of step-index polymer optical fiber in the presence of mode coupling using the matrix exponential method. The computation time in this method is independent of the fiber length and is typically 2 orders of magnitude shortened compared with the standard numerical procedures involving finite difference methods. Results obtained with our method are compared with those of known cases, where an analytical solution for the time-dependent power flow equation exists, and with a finite difference method. We also investigate the impact of mode coupling and differential modal attenuation on impulse response duration and shape.