Linear and nonlinear modeling of light propagation in hollow-core photonic crystal fiber

Hollow core photonic crystal fibers (HC-PCFs) find applications which include quantum and non-linear optics, gas detection and short high-intensity laser pulse delivery. Central to most applications is an understanding of the linear and nonlinear optical properties. These require careful modeling due to the multitude of lengthscales involved and nonstandard variations in properties such as the mode-field distribution. Linear mode-solvers require many 100,000's of basis functions to resolve the field variations, and extra terms are often required in descriptions of nonlinear propagation. The intricacies of modeling various forms of HC-PCF are reviewed. An example of linear dispersion engineering, aimed at reducing and flattening the group velocity dispersion, is then presented. Finally, a study of short high intensity pulse delivery using HC-PCF in both dispersive and nonlinear (solitonic) regimes is given.