An
optical fiber that is relatively insensitive to
bend loss comprises a core region and a cladding region configured to support and guide the propagation of light in a fundamental
transverse mode, the cladding region including (i) an outer cladding region having a
refractive index less than that of the core region, (ii) an annular cladding pedestal region having a
refractive index higher than that of the outer cladding region and comparable to that of the core region, and (iii) an annular cladding inner trench region disposed between the core region and the pedestal region, the inner trench region having a
refractive index less than that of the outer cladding region. In one embodiment, the
fiber also includes a (iv) an annular cladding outer trench region disposed between the pedestal region and the outer cladding region, the outer trench region having a refractive index less than that of the outer cladding region. In addition, to suppress HOMs the pedestal region is configured to resonantly couple at least one other
transverse mode of the core region to at least one
transverse mode of the pedestal region. Such
fiber is advantageously used as access
fiber, but may have other applications, such as sensor fiber.