Dispersion compensating photonic crystal fiber

A fiber optic waveguide for altering the dispersion characteristics of a signal transmitted along the waveguide comprising:

• a high index core region;
• a low index moat region surrounding the core region;
• a cladding region surrounding the moat region and the core region, the cladding region including a lattice of solid material columns disposed within a solid background matrix, the lattice of solid material columns having a refractive index which is higher than the refractive index of the background matrix and lower than the refractive index of the core region;
• wherein a diameter of the core region is sized for making contact with the moat region for creating an extended core region at long wavelengths, and wherein the resulting fiber optic waveguide produces dispersion altering characteristics.

A fiber optic waveguide comprising:

• a core region;
• a moat region surrounding the core region, such that the moat region is formed from a ring of air columns which surround the core region;
• a cladding region surrounding the moat region and the core region, the cladding region including a ring of solid material surrounding said moat region and disposed within a solid background matrix, the ring of solid material having a refractive index which is higher than the refractive index of the background matrix and lower than the refractive index of the core region;
• wherein a diameter of the core region is sized for making contact with the moat region.