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RP Fiber Calculator –
the Convenient Fiber Optics Software

RP Fiber Calculator is a highly convenient software for doing various calculations on optical fibers with radially symmetric refractive index profiles. It has an intuitive graphical user interface with tabs for the following purposes:

RP Fiber Calculator
Figure 1: Click on the image to start the demo video!

An Extremely Useful Tool for Your Everyday Work in Fiber Optics

Even beginners in fiber optics will have no problem getting started with this software. Playing with it trains your intuition and gives you a quantitative feeling and understanding for fiber optics – a great supplement to all the explanations you find on our website. And fiber optics experts will also appreciate to have a highly convenient tool for their everyday work. Use it, for example, to address questions like the following ones:

  • How low does the index contrast have to be in order to obtain single-mode guidance? In which wavelength range will that work?
  • How many guided modes is my fiber expected to have?
  • How quickly will the multimode intensity pattern in the fiber evolve?
  • What are the effects of having a central dip in the index profile, or a low-index region around the core, or whatever feature you can imagine? Is the fundamental mode still close to Gaussian-shaped?
  • How critical will be a mismatch of beam focus size for launching light into the fiber? How critical are other parameters e.g. for displacements or tilts?
  • Is the observed far field pattern consistent with the design parameters?
  • What is the insertion loss of a splice between two different multimode fibers? How important is it to have matched core sizes and NA values?

Find this out easily with the software, rather than doing tedious calculations based on equations found in textbooks, or just fishing in the dark. You may also test numerically what you have calculated in order to be sure.

Comparison of Software Versions

Here, you can get a short overview on what the different software versions for fiber optics offer:

RP Fiber Calculator
free version
RP Fiber Calculator
PRO version
RP Fiber Power V7
Mode solverLP modes with l, m up to 20LP modes with l, m up to 150LP modes with l, m up to 150
Refractive index profilesdirect graphical inputdirect graphical input, via doping profile (e.g. for germania or fluorine doping) or mathematical expressionvia arbitrary mathematical expressions
(fully flexible)
Chromatic dispersionyesyes
Table of mode propertiesyes, with graphical user interfaceyes, with graphical user interfacecan generate any listings of mode properties via scripting
Plots of mode propertiesyes, as functions of wavelengthcan generate any plots of mode properties
Export of mode propertiesyes, in text form with editable formatcan generate outputs of any format (text, binary, graphics)
Optimization of fiber designs(no special support)can display any mode properties and an arbitrarily defined “figure of merit”can display any mode properties and an arbitrarily defined “figure of merit”
Launching a laser beamyes, with graphical user interfaceyes, with graphical user interfacecan do this and much more via scripting
Evolution of beam profile in fiberyes, with graphical user interfaceyes, with graphical user interfacecan do this and much more via scripting
Fiber-to-fiber couplingyes, with graphical user interfacecan do this and much more via scripting
Reflections at fiber endsyes, with graphical user interfacecan do this and much more via scripting
Numerical beam propagationyes, fully programmable
Ultrashort pulse and signal propagationyes, with chromatic dispersion, nonlinearities, saturable absorbers, filters, etc.
Fiber laser and amplifier simulationsvery advanced capabilities, including user-defined level schemes, short and ultrashort pulse amplification, mode locking, etc. (except in the Passive Edition)
Scriptingcan define refractive index functions (e.g., Sellmeier formulas)extremely powerful script language: can do full-blown programming
Documentationin the program and on the websitein the program and on the websitePDF manual with over 100 pages; context-sensitive online help system
Technical supportnot included, but bug reports and suggestions are welcome4 hours commercial
2 hours non-commercial
including advice on related scientific issues
8 hours commercial
4 hours non-commercial
including advice on related scientific issues

Our most powerful fiber optics software is RP Fiber Power – see the comprehensive description. If you work with passive fiber only, the cheaper “Passive Edition” will be sufficient.

If you have any further questions or need a quotation: