High birefringent slotted core slotted cladding porous core PCF for THz waveguide

A novel design featuring a porous core photonic crystal fiber (PC-PCF) is proposed in this paper for terahertz (THz) waveguide application. This work uses finite element method (FEM) and a boundary condition related to perfectly matched layer (PML) for analyzing the guiding properties. This methodology is supported by a fiber type featuring a slotted core and slotted cladding, utilizing Zeonex as the material. It offers high birefringence valued at 0.0978, small confinement loss of 10−14 dB/cm, a meager amount of effective material loss (EML) valued at 0.011697 dB/cm and a very high core power fraction (CPF) of 67.156%. Additionally, it shows a flattened pattern of dispersion measuring 0.4 ± 0.2 ps/THz/cm at an extensive frequency range of 0.5 THz to 2 THz. Other significant waveguide properties: effective refractive index, numerical aperture (NA), V-parameter, effective area, spot size, and beam divergence of the suggested fiber are numerically analyzed and conferred thoroughly. Regarding its mode of operation, the proposed fiber primarily functions in multimode, but it can also operate in single mode for higher porosity levels and lower core diameters. This unique characteristic renders the proposed PC-PCF structure well-suited for a broad range of applications, offering versatility as to its mode of operation. •A novel design featuring a porous core photonic crystal fiber (PC-PCF) is proposed for THz waveguide application.•FEM with PML boundary conditions is used to analyze guiding properties of slotted core/cladding PC-PCF with Zeonex as the host material.•It offers high birefringence, low confinement loss, minimal EML and flattened dispersion over a wide frequency range.•The proposed fiber mainly functions in multimode but can support single mode with higher porosity and reduced core diameter.•This unique trait makes the PC-PCF structure ideal for various applications, offering versatility in its mode of operation.