Monitorable hollow core optical fiber

A method for monitoring a monitorable hollow core (HC) optical fiber, the method comprising:

• transmitting one or more first optical signals on the monitorable HC optical fiber, wherein the monitorable HC optical fiber comprises one or more HC anti-resonant fiber (HC-ARF) segments and one or more monitoring segments alternatingly connected with the HC-ARF segments, each monitoring segment comprising one or more non-HC-ARF constituents, and wherein at least one of the monitoring segments is connected to an adjacent one of the HC-ARF segments via a transition segment having a different mode field radius (MFR);
• responsive to transmitting the one or more first optical signals, detecting one or more second optical signals on the monitorable HC optical fiber, the one or more second optical signals being primarily dependent on interactions between the one or more first optical signals and the non-HC-ARF constituents of the monitoring segments;
• and
• monitoring one or more optical properties of the monitorable HC optical fiber using the one or more first optical signals and the one or more second optical signals.

A method for manufacturing a monitorable hollow core (HC) optical fiber apparatus, the method comprising:

• providing one or more hollow core anti-resonant fiber (HC-ARF) segments of a monitorable HC optical fiber;
• providing one or more monitoring segments of the monitorable HC optical fiber, each monitoring segment comprising one or more non-HC-ARF constituents;
• alternatingly connecting the HC-ARF segments with the monitoring segments to form the monitorable HC optical fiber, wherein the connecting comprises connecting at least one of the monitoring segments to an adjacent one of the HC-ARF segments via a transition segment having a different mode field radius (MFR),
• wherein one or more optical properties of the monitorable HC optical fiber are monitorable using interactions between one or more optical signals transmitted on the monitorable HC optical fiber and the non-HC-ARF constituents of the monitoring segments.