A novel numerical approach for the efficient synthesis of dispersion-flatte
ned fibers is presented. This approach is based oil the combination of gene
tic algorithms and finite elements. Severe constraints, such as a given max
imum monochromatic dispersion level and maximum flatness over a desired ban
d, are easily attained. To show the validity and usefulness of our approach
, three different profiles are optimized, and their results are compared wi
th published ones. (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.