Polarization beam splitter based on photonic crystal fibers

Abstract

Polarization beam splitters (PBSs) are a special kind of coupler. They can split incoming light from a single fiber into two orthogonally polarized beams. They are usually used in coherent optical communication systems, optical sense systems and optical measurement systems. In this paper, two kinds of mechanisms of the PBSs based on photonic crystal fibers (PCFs) are discussed. The full-vector finite element method (FEM) was employed to analyze propagating properties, while the full-vector beam propagation method (BPM) was applied to analyze preferences of the splitters. The results show that it is possible to achieve a compact PBS with high extinction ratio.