Anomalous bending effect in photonic crystal fibers.

An unexpected transmission loss up to 50% occurs to intense femtosecond pulses propagating along an endlessly single-mode photonic crystal fiber over a length of 1 m. A specific leaky-fiber mode gains amplification along the fiber at the expense of the fundamental fiber mode through stimulated four-wave mixing and Raman scattering, leading to this transmission loss. Bending near the fiber entrance dissipates the propagating seed of this leaky mode, preventing the leaky mode amplification and therefore enhancing the transmission of these pulses.