Patent ID: 7900481

Claim:
A method of making a non-photonic crystal fiber optical fiber including at least one air hole and/or at least one stress rod, said method comprising: (i) manufacturing a glass core cane; (ii) situating a plurality of microstructures with non-circular outer diameter in contact with one another, said plurality of microstructures selected from at least two types of microstructures: rods, air filled tubes, and/or glass filled tubes with an index of refraction different from that of said core cane, and placing said microstructures adjacent to said core cane, said microstructures forming no more than 3 layers around said core cane such that there are no interstitials formed therebetween; (iii) placing said core cane with said adjacent microstructures inside a holding clad tube; and (iv) placing interstitial cladding rods inside said holding tube, thereby forming an assembly comprising a tube containing a core cane, a plurality of microstructures and interstitial cladding rods; (v) drawing said assembly into a microstructured cane; and (vi) drawing an optical fiber from said microstructured cane.