Optical fibres have for almost three decades been fabricated of solid glass. It was, therefore, a radical change that took place, when researchers in the late 90's started to fabricate hair-thin optical fibres with numerous microscopic air holes running along the length of the fibres. These microstructured fibres did not only mark the introduction of tailored materials with unique spectral properties in fibre optics, but it also opened the perspective of the applicability of photonic bandgap materials at optical wavelengths. In this respect, a completely new guiding mechanism was demonstrated, and a revolution in fibre optics had started. Photonic Crystal Fibres describes the fundamental properties of these new optical waveguides, outlines how they are fabricated, and how they are treated from a theoretical and numerical point of view. A detailed description of the different classes of photonic crystal fibres is given, and a spectrum of different applications and new fibre types are presented.

Photonic Crystal Fibres describes the fundamental properties of the optical waveguides known under the terms of photonic crystal fibres, microstructured fibres, or holey fibres. It outlines how the fibres are designed and fabricated, and how they are treated from a theoretical and numerical point of view. The book presents a detailed description of the different classes of photonic crystal and photonic bandgap fibres, and it broadens out a spectrum of novel applications and new fibre types.