Abstract: A spool comprises: a hub sandwiched between two flanges. At least one of the flanges includes at least one smoothly curving arcuate fiber groove on a side facing the hub. The fiber groove extends substantially to the outer edge of said flange. The groove is situated at a shallow angle ? relative to the tangent line to the periphery of the flange, the angle ? being no more than 15 degrees.

Abstract: An optical fiber (10) having a first section (10A) with little or no small-angle scattering (SAS) and a second section (10B) with an increased amount of SAS is disclosed. The optical fiber is formed by changing the draw temperature (TD) and/or the draw speed (VD) so as to induce index of refraction perturbations (P) at a core interface (40). The SAS optical fiber is useful in forming an evanescent optical fiber sensor (400), wherein the increased SAS enhances an evanescent wave portion (436) of a guided wave (434), which leads to increased sensitivity when measuring a property of a test medium (500).

Abstract: The present invention provides devices and methods for Raman amplification and dispersion compensation. According to one embodiment of the present invention, a dispersion compensating device includes a dispersion compensating fiber having a dispersion more negative than about ?50 ps/nm/km over a wavelength range of about 1555 nm to about 1615 nm; a Raman gain fiber having a dispersion more positive than about ?40 ps/nm/km over a wavelength range of about 1555 nm to about 1615 nm; and a pump source operatively coupled to the dispersion compensating fiber and the Raman gain fiber, the pump source operating at a pump wavelength, wherein the dispersion compensating fiber has a Raman Figure of Merit at the pump wavelength, and wherein the Raman gain fiber has a Raman Figure of Merit at least about equivalent to the Raman Figure of Merit of the dispersion compensating fiber, and wherein the dispersion compensating fiber and the Raman gain fiber are arranged in series between the input and the output of the device.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a microstructured optical fiber including a photonic band gap-guided core; and at least one index-guided core. Another embodiment of the present invention relates to a microstructured optical fiber including a set of main cores; a microstructured region surrounding the set of main cores; and at least alignment core, the alignment cores having substantially different optical propagation properties than the main cores. The present invention also includes methods for coupling, monitoring, and locating discontinuities in the fibers of the present invention.

Abstract: Disclosed is an optical fiber (20) having a centermost laterally-elongated core (30) having a short dimension (a), a long dimension (b) and a first refractive index (n1), a moat (40) surrounding the central laterally-elongated core, the moat (40) having a second refractive index (n2), an outer dimension (c) and an outer dimension (d), and a cladding (50) surrounding the moat (40), the cladding (50) having a third refractive index (n3), wherein n1>n3>n2, a ratio of b/a is between 1.5 and 5.0, and a ratio of d/a is between 2.0 and 7.0. The fiber supports a single (one and only one) polarization within a Single Polarization Band (SPB). The fiber (20) may be coupled to optical components in apparatus where single polarization properties are desired.