Patent ID: 6917741

Claim:
A method of fabricating a photonic band gap fiber having a photonic band gap structure, the photonic band gap structure having a pitch and a core defect void formed therein, the method comprising the steps of: (a) forming an assembly of stacked elongate elements, the assembly including a first set of elongate elements, the first set of elongate elements defining and surrounding a core volume, the core volume being contiguous to an outer edge of each elongate element of the first set of elongate elements, and a second set of elongate elements surrounding the first set of elongate elements, each elongate element of the second set of elongate elements having an external polygonal shape, each of the second set of elongate elements having a hole formed longitudinally therein, wherein the core volume defined by the first set of elongate elements has a shape that is essentially not an integer multiple of the external shape of the elongate elements of the second set of elongate elements; (b) including the assembly in a photonic band gap fiber preform; and (c) drawing the photonic band gap fiber preform into the photonic band gap fiber.