Abstract
We review the use of hollow-core photonic crystal fibre (HC-PCF) for high power laser beam delivery. A comparison of bandgap HC-PCF with Kagome-lattice HC-PCF on the geometry, guidance mechanism, and optical properties shows that the Kagome-type HC-PCF is an ideal host for high power laser beam transportation because of its large core size, low attenuation, broadband transmission, single-mode guidance, low dispersion and the ultra-low optical overlap between the core-guided modes and the silica core-surround. The power handling capability of Kagome-type HC-PCF is further experimentally demonstrated by millijoule nanosecond laser spark ignition and similar to 100 mu J sub-picosecond laser pulse transportation and compression.