Analysis of light scattering from surface roughness in hollow-core photonic bandgap fibers

We present a theoretical method for analyzing radiation loss from surface roughness scattering in hollow-core photonic bandgap fibers (HC-PBGFs). We treat the scattering process as induced dipole radiation and combine statistical information about surface roughness, mode field distribution and fibre geometry to accurately describe the far-field scattering distribution and loss in fibers with an arbitrary cross-sectional distribution of air holes of any shape. The predicted angular scattering distribution, total scattering loss and the loss wavelength dependence are all shown to agree well with reported experimental data. Our method yields a simpler result than that obtained by more complex approaches and is to the best of our knowledge the first successful attempt to accurately describe roughness scattering in HC-PBGFs.