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Properties and Applications of Hollow Core Fiber

Amy Van Newkirk

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Electronics Packaging Symposium - Binghamton, NY, Sept 9-10 2026

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Anti-Resonant Hollow Core Fiber

DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT A: Approved for public release. Distribution is unlimited. (9/1/26)

Electronics Packaging Symposium, Binghamton, NY, 9/9/26

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Optical fiber with light guidance in a hollow core

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Capillary structure leads to confinement of optical power within the core (no total internal reflection)

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  • The fundamental core mode is mostly Gaussian

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  • Very little light overlaps with the glass of the fiber structure

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<0.005% of light in glass

Anti-Resonant Hollow Core Fiber

DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT A: Approved for public release. Distribution is unlimited. (9/1/26)

Electronics Packaging Symposium, Binghamton, NY, 9/9/26

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Applications

  • UV-MWIR laser transmission
  • High power delivery
  • Telecommunications
  • In-fiber gas lasers
  • In-fiber gas sensors
  • Fiber gyroscopes

Properties

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  • UV-MWIR guidance
  • High damage thresholds
  • Low propagation loss
  • Single mode guidance
  • Low nonlinearity/dispersion
  • Broad transmission windows
  • High thermal stability
  • Natural radiation hardness
  • Low latency

Anti-Resonant Hollow Core Fiber

DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT A: Approved for public release. Distribution is unlimited. (9/1/26)

Electronics Packaging Symposium, Binghamton, NY, 9/9/26

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  • Transmission records have been repeatedly broken over the last decade

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  • Performance surpassed Corning SMF28 in 2022

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  • Current record: 0.04 dB/km (YOFC, OFC March 2026)

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Anti-Resonant Hollow Core Fiber

Borzycki, K. Recent Progress in Development of Hollow-Core Fibers for Telecommunications and Data Transmission Applications. Photonics 2026, 13, 494. https://doi.org/10.3390/photonics13050494

DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT A: Approved for public release. Distribution is unlimited. (9/1/26)

Electronics Packaging Symposium, Binghamton, NY, 9/9/26

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High power laser delivery

M. A. Cooper, J. Wahlen, S. Yerolatsitis, D. Cruz-Delgado, D. Parra, B. Tanner, P. Ahmadi, O. Jones, Md. S. Habib, I. Divliansky, J. E. Antonio-Lopez, A. Schülzgen, and R. Amezcua Correa, "2.2 kW single-mode narrow-linewidth laser delivery through a hollow-core fiber," Optica 10, 1253-1259 (2023)

ARHCF properties for high power transmission

    • Low loss
    • Low nonlinearities
    • High thermal stability
    • High damage threshold
    • Single mode guidance

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DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT A: Approved for public release. Distribution is unlimited. (9/1/26)

Electronics Packaging Symposium, Binghamton, NY, 9/9/26

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High power laser delivery

ARHCF properties for high power transmission

    • Low loss
    • Low nonlinearities
    • High thermal stability
    • High damage threshold
    • Single mode guidance

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H. C. H. Mulvad et al., “Kilowatt-average-power single-mode laser light transmission over kilometre-scale hollow-core fibre,” Nat. Photon., vol. 16, no. 6, pp. 448–453, Jun. 2022, doi: 10.1038/s41566-022-01000-3.

DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT A: Approved for public release. Distribution is unlimited. (9/1/26)

Electronics Packaging Symposium, Binghamton, NY, 9/9/26

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High power laser delivery

ARHCF properties for high power transmission

    • Low loss
    • Low nonlinearities
    • High thermal stability
    • High damage threshold
    • Single mode guidance

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Air-filled NANF estimated to reach 10 kW over 1.5 km before onset of SRS

H. C. H. Mulvad et al., “Kilowatt-average-power single-mode laser light transmission over kilometre-scale hollow-core fibre,” Nat. Photon., vol. 16, no. 6, pp. 448–453, Jun. 2022, doi: 10.1038/s41566-022-01000-3.

DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT A: Approved for public release. Distribution is unlimited. (9/1/26)

Electronics Packaging Symposium, Binghamton, NY, 9/9/26

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  • Fused silica loss increases exponentially in the MWIR
  • Solid silica fibers cannot be used for transport above ~2 µm
  • Alternative glass fibers are much less robust and more difficult to fabricate
    • Chalcogenide, indium fluoride, etc.
  • ARHCF have very strong confinement in the hollow core
  • Less than 0.01% of the light interacts with the silica structure
  • This enables MWIR guidance despite the extremely high silica absorption

3-5 µm atmospheric window useful for IR counter measures and chemical sensing

Fused Silica Absorption

Mid-Infrared Laser Delivery

DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT A: Approved for public release. Distribution is unlimited. (9/1/26)

Electronics Packaging Symposium, Binghamton, NY, 9/9/26

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Mid-Infrared Laser Delivery

Measured fiber transmission from ~ 3.3 - 4.7 µm

Loss at 4.05 µm: 0.15 dB/m

Loss at 4.63 µm: 0.33 dB/m

A. Van Newkirk, J. E. Antonio-Lopez, R. A. Correa, and A. Schülzgen, “Extending the transmission of a silica hollow core fiber to 4.6 µm,” Opt. Continuum, vol. 1, no. 9, p. 2062, Sept. 2022.

DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT A: Approved for public release. Distribution is unlimited. (9/1/26)

Electronics Packaging Symposium, Binghamton, NY, 9/9/26

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Radiation Hardness

  • Optical fiber is required for sensing and data transmission in high radiation environments
  • Pure silica core fiber has been the industry gold standard due to the reduced radiation-induced attenuation relative to doped fibers
    • Still suffers from RIA since the pure SiO2 is subject to RIA and all of the light propagates in glass
  • In ARHCF a small percentage (<0.005%) of the light interacts with the glass
  • Preliminary tests indicate that HCF exhibits at least 5X less RIA than pure silica core fibers

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Flux / Dose rate

Total dose after 16 hours

Thermal neutrons

1.1E+13 [n/cm2/s]

6.4E+17 [n/cm2]

Fast neutrons (>0.1 MeV)

3.2E+12 [n/cm2/s]

1.9E+17 [n/cm2]

Gammas

2.0E+05 [Gy/h]

3.2 [MGy]

A. Van Newkirk et al., “Radiation Hardness Evaluation of Anti-Resonant Hollow Core Fibers for Extreme Environments,” in Advanced Photonics Congress 2024, Québec City: Optica Publishing Group, 2024, p. JTh4A.4.

DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT A: Approved for public release. Distribution is unlimited. (9/1/26)

Electronics Packaging Symposium, Binghamton, NY, 9/9/26

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Telecommunications

L. Feng et al., “Demonstration of Single-span 100km Hollow Core Fiber Bidirectional Transmission with 1Tb/s/λ Real-time Signals,” 2025.

ARHCF properties for telecom

    • Low loss – 0.04 dB/km
    • Low latency
    • Low nonlinearities
    • Single mode guidance

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A. Ali, et al., "Unrepeated HCF Transmission over spans up to 301.7 km," in Optical Fiber Communication Conference (OFC) Postdeadline Papers 2025, Postdeadline Paper Digest (Optica Publishing Group, 2025), paper Th4A.3.

Xumeng Liu, etal., "Ultra-High Capacity Transmission in Anti-Resonant Hollow Core Fiber," J. Lightwave Technol. 44, 5832-5841 (2026)

DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT A: Approved for public release. Distribution is unlimited. (9/1/26)

Electronics Packaging Symposium, Binghamton, NY, 9/9/26

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Integration/interconnections

R. Slavík, “Interconnectivity between effectively single-moded antiresonant hollow core fibres and conventional single-mode fibres,” Optical Fiber Technology, 2023.

Zhe Zhang, Wei Ding, Anqing Jia, Yifeng Hong, Yi Chen, Yizhi Sun, Shoufei Gao, Sujuan Huang, and Yingying Wang, "Connector-style hollow-core fiber interconnections," Opt. Express 30, 15149-15157 (2022)

C. Zhang, S. Fu, and Y. Qin, "High-performance fusion splicing technique for anti-resonant hollow-core fiber," in Optical Fiber Communication Conference (OFC) 2026, Technical Digest Series (Optica Publishing Group, 2026), paper M1J.3.

DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT A: Approved for public release. Distribution is unlimited. (9/1/26)

Electronics Packaging Symposium, Binghamton, NY, 9/9/26

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Fusion Splicing

Weiao Liu, Peng Li, Huilin Yu, Zhiyong Zhao, Lei Shen, Lei Zhang, Jie Luo, and Ming Tang, "Rapid and high-precision automatic alignment and splicing technique for anti-resonant hollow-core fibers," Opt. Express 34, 32546-32556 (2026)

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Weiao Liu, et al., "Rapid and high-precision automatic alignment and splicing technique for anti-resonant hollow-core fibers," Opt. Express 34, 32546-32556 (2026)

DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT A: Approved for public release. Distribution is unlimited. (9/1/26)

Electronics Packaging Symposium, Binghamton, NY, 9/9/26

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Draw down to final fiber

Manually assemble fiber preform

Draw to fiber cane

CREOL, University of Central Florida

Microstructured Fiber Fabrication

DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT A: Approved for public release. Distribution is unlimited. (9/1/26)

Electronics Packaging Symposium, Binghamton, NY, 9/9/26

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Fabrication

Yuxin Ding, Peng Li, Guoqun Chen, Jun Chu, Anqing Jia, Lei Zhang, Jie Luo, and Feng He, "Support Tube DNANF Achieving 0.051 dB/km and Scaled to > 10 000 km of Production," J. Lightwave Technol. 44, 7085-7089 (2026)

DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT A: Approved for public release. Distribution is unlimited. (9/1/26)

Electronics Packaging Symposium, Binghamton, NY, 9/9/26

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Commercialization

DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT A: Approved for public release. Distribution is unlimited. (9/1/26)

Electronics Packaging Symposium, Binghamton, NY, 9/9/26

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Other areas of research

  • Fiber optic gyroscopes
  • Nonlinear applications
  • In-fiber gas lasers
  • In-fiber spectroscopy
  • Dual waveband transmission
  • Power over fiber
  • Sensors
  • …

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University of Southampton

DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT A: Approved for public release. Distribution is unlimited. (9/1/26)

Electronics Packaging Symposium, Binghamton, NY, 9/9/26

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ARHCF can be designed to operate quasi-single mode

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Proper core/capillary diameter ratio allows for higher order modes to be coupled out of core

🡪 Match the effective refractive indices of the higher order mode to the index of the capillary mode

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ARHCF Design

Design consideration: core and capillary diameters

DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT A: Approved for public release. Distribution is unlimited. (9/1/26)

Electronics Packaging Symposium, Binghamton, NY, 9/9/26

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InF3 vs. ARHCF comparison

  • Similar MWIR loss

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  • ARHCF 🡪 Higher power handling
    • Much lower nonlinearities
    • Higher damage threshold
  • ARHCF 🡪 Easier fabrication
    • Fused silica fiber drawing much more robust
    • Up to few km length production possible
  • ARHCF 🡪 Higher thermal stability
    • Changes in the glass have little impact on light propagation in core

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  • InF3 🡪 Commercially available
    • Sold cabled and connectorized (only 1-2 m lengths)
  • InF3 🡪 More similarly mode-matched to standard single mode fiber
  • InF3 🡪 No chemical absorption lines in MWIR
    • Gases present in hollow core show strong absorption in 3-5 µm (can be purged)

Mid-Infrared Laser Delivery

DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT A: Approved for public release. Distribution is unlimited. (9/1/26)

Electronics Packaging Symposium, Binghamton, NY, 9/9/26

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