Light propagation in birefringent doped-core holey fibers

Holey fibers (HF) as a subgroup of photonic crystal fibers (PCF) constitute a new class of optical fibers which has revealed many interesting phenomena paving the way for a large number of novel applications either in the telecom or in the sensing domain. However, some of the applications require the use of specialty fibers with a doped core. A numerical investigation of fundamental and higher order modes propagating in doped core birefringent holey fiber is presented. The conditions for the co-existence of two competing light guiding mechanisms, their consequences on the mode propagation and the potentialities for novel applications are discussed.