A study of the propagation characteristics of W-type single-mode fibers using variational fields of single-clad single-mode fibers

A number of single and two parameter scalar variational fields approximating the fundamental mode of single-clad fibers are available in the literature. The present work aims at checking if these fields can also explain the propagation characteristics of W-type or double-clad single mode fibers with similar accuracies. To assess the accuracies, numerical solution of scalar wave equation is required. A method for solving the scalar wave equation numerically has also been proposed. Investigation shows that the single parameter fields are not very suitable for the W-type fibers. At least a two parameter variational field should be used.