SINGLE-PARAMETER VARIATIONAL APPROXIMATIONS FOR LINEAR AND NONLINEAR EFFECTS IN SINGLE-MODE FIBERS - A COMPARATIVE-STUDY

Based on the variational method, a simple single-parameter approximati on for the LP01 mode field of graded-index fibers has been proposed. U sing this new approximation as well as the other single-parameter appr oximations available in the literature, important propagation characte ristics such as the propagation constant, splice loss, mode field radi us, normalized dispersion, effective area etc., have been computed, an d a comparative study of the accuracies obtained by these approximatio ns has been presented. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.