Search

We use the power coupled-mode theory to study the interplay between multipath interference (MPI) and differential mode attenuation (DMA) in quasi-single mode (QSM) fibers. The analytical expressions derived assuming two mode propagation in QSM fibers show that MPI scales differently as a function of the span length for low and high DMA. Furthermore, we derive analytical expressions for the performance improvement of long-haul coherent optical communication systems using QSM fibers, taking into account the impact of excess loss and MPI on system performance. From these expressions, we calculate the maximum allowable coupling coefficient for different values of the DMA. We show, for example, that a QSM fiber with an effective area of 250 μm2, a coupling coefficient κ ≤ 6 × 10-4 km-1, and DMA equal to 4 dB/km offers a 1-dB performance advantage over a reference pure silica core single-mode fiber for spans of 100 km.

Mode locked pulse generation has been reported using both active and passive mode locking schemes. Active mode locking technique has been proven to be an effective way to generate high-repetition-rate pulses by incorporating a modulator inside the laser cavity. Compared to actively mode locked lasers, passively mode locked lasers can generate pulse train at ultrashort pulse width but with relatively lower repetition rate. Thus, it is a brilliant idea to build a hybrid mode locked system combining both active and passive mode lockers. In this review, several hybrid mode locked fiber ring laser systems are discussed and summarized. Hybrid mode locking is a promising method to generate high speed ultrashort optical pulses for fiber-optic telecommunication system.

International audience; We developed a generalized field-propagating model for active optical fibers that takes into account mode beating and mode coupling through the amplifying medium. We applied the model to the particular case of a few-mode erbium doped fiber amplifier. Results from the model predict that mode coupling mediated by the amplifying medium is very low. Furthermore, we applied the model to a typical amplifier configuration. In this particular configuration, the new model predicts much lower differential modal gain than that predicted by a classical intensity model.

We demonstrate a novel approach to enhance the mode stability through increased effective index difference (Δneff) between the higher-order modes (LP18, LP09 and LP19) of a multimode fiber. Fibers with large diameters have bigger effective mode areas (Aeff) and can be useful for high power lasers and amplifiers. However, a large mode area (LMA) results in an increased number of modes that can be more susceptible to mode coupling. The modal effective index difference (Δneff) strongly correlates with mode stability and this increases as the modal order (m) increases. We report here that the mode spacing between the higher order modes can be further enhanced by introducing doped concentric rings in the core. In our work, we have shown a more than 35% increase in the mode spacing between the higher order modes by optimizing the doping profile of a LMA fiber. The proposed design technique is also scalable and can be applied to improve the mode spacing between different higher order modes and their neighboring antisymmetric modes, as necessary.

This paper is focused on the influence of the linear mode coupling caused by the fiber bending on the nonlinear distortions in a mode-division multiplexed system. The system under test utilizes the fundamental Gaussian mode and the conjugated first-order vortex modes propagating in the step-index fiber at the same wavelength. For such kind of system, the nonlinear impairments are caused mainly by the cross-phase and self-phase modulations. Propagation of the modal composition is described by the system of generalized coupled nonlinear Schrodinger equations, which serves as a basis of our simulations. Considering the nonlinear operator analytically, we show that it reaches its maximum value due to the power transfer between mode channels caused by the linear mode coupling. Simulation results for equal initial powers in NRZ-coded mode channels demonstrate that nonlinear signal impairments increase significantly for all mode channels in the case of strong linear mode coupling. In the case of weak linear coupling, the increase of nonlinear impairments was also observed, but this effect was appreciably weaker. Moreover, simulations show that the effect described above is stronger for the first-order modes than for the fundamental mode.

The parametric interaction in few mode fibers is theoretically and numerically studied in the particular case in which the signal and the idler waves are frequency degenerate but mode nondegenerate. Under simplifying hypotheses, we derive analytical formulas for the phase-insensitive and phase-sensitive amplification gain and conversion efficiency. The analytical formulas are in very good agreement with the numerical solutions of a full vectorial model that takes into account losses, mode coupling, and all possible four-wave mixing interactions. In the phase-sensitive regime, we predict that for small input pump powers, a large and tunable phase-sensitive extinction ratio can be achieved on one mode, whereas the other mode power remains essentially unaffected. Finally, in the high-gain regime, the self-equalization of the output power on different modes can be also achieved.

In this paper, we focus on the study of large bandwidth wireless signal transmission following a 60 GHz standard over a multimode fiber link used to cover optical distribution for the last mile. To reduce the multimode effects within the fiber, a single mode fiber is first added to play a role of mode filter, and then replaced by a Mandrel as a filter. Error vector magnitude (EVM) is used as a metrics to analyze the signal degradation. Simulation results are confirmed by measurements. The EVM of the RoF links on single mode fiber, multimode fiber with and without filtering are compared.

International audience; We propose a new technique to selectively excite the fundamental mode in a few mode fiber (FMF). This method of excitation is made from a single mode fiber (SMF) which is inserted facing the FMF into an air-silica microstructured cane before the assembly is adiabatically tapered. We study theoretically and numerically this method by calculating the effective indices of the propagated modes, their amplitudes along the taper and the adiabaticity criteria, showing the ability to achieve an excellent selective excitation of the fundamental mode in the FMF with negligible loss. We experimentally demonstrate that the proposed solution provides a successful mode conversion and allows an almost excellent fundamental mode excitation in the FMF (representing 99.8% of the total power).

Twist-induced mode coupling is experimentally analyzed in a 2-mode fiber by means of the S2 imaging technique. Results confirm a rotation of the transmitted field pattern proportional to the fiber rotation in agreement with the theoretical prediction.

We present an on-chip optical mode exchange between two multiplexed modes by using tapered directional couplers on silicon-on-insulator platform. The device consisting of mode multiplexing and mode exchange is compact with relatively large fabrication error tolerance. The simulation results show efficient higher order mode excitation and mode exchange. A low excess loss less than 0.5 dB and high extinction ratio larger than 15 dB over 10 nm wavelength range from 1535 to 1545 nm are achieved.

Mode division multiplexing (MDM)– using a multimode optical fiber’s N spatial modes as data channels to transmit N independent data streams – has received interest as it can potentially increase optical fiber data transmission capacity N-times with respect to single mode optical fibers. Two challenges of MDM are (1) designing mode (de)multiplexers with high mode selectivity (2) designing mode (de)multiplexers without cascaded beam splitting’s 1/N insertion loss. One spatial mode basis that has received interest is that of orbital angular momentum (OAM) modes. In this paper, using a device referred to as an OAM mode sorter, we show that OAM modes can be (de)multiplexed over a multimode optical fiber with higher than −15 dB mode selectivity and without cascaded beam splitting’s 1/N insertion loss. As a proof of concept, the OAM modes of the LP11 mode group (OAM−1,0"Equation missing" and OAM+1,0), each carrying 20-Gbit/s polarization division multiplexed and quadrature phase shift keyed data streams, are transmitted 5km over a graded-index, few-mode optical fibre. Channel crosstalk is mitigated using 4 × 4 multiple-input-multiple-output digital-signal-processing with −3.

Fiber-chip edge couplers are extensively used in integrated optics as one of the key structures for coupling of light between planar waveguide circuits and optical fibers. In this work, a new fiber-chip edge coupler concept with large mode size for coupling to submicrometer silicon photonic wire waveguides is presented. The coupler allows direct coupling to conventional SMF-28 optical fiber and circumvents the need for lensed fibers. We demonstrate by simulations a 95% mode overlap between the mode at the chip facet and a high numerical aperture single mode optical fiber with 6 μm mode field diameter (MFD). We also demonstrate a modified design with 89% overlap between the mode at the chip facet and a standard SMF-28 fiber with 10.4 μm MFD. The coupler is designed for 220 nm silicon-oninsulator (SOI) platform. An important advantage of our coupler is that large mode size is obtained without the need to increase buried oxide (BOX) thickness, which in our design is set to 3 μm. This remarkable feature is achieved by implementing in the SiO2 upper cladding two thin high-index Si3N4 layers. The high-index layers increase the effective refractive index of the upper cladding layer near the facet and are gradually tapered out along the coupler to provide adiabatic mode transformation to the silicon wire waveguide. Simultaneously, the Si-wire waveguide is inversely tapered along the coupler. The mode overlap at the chip facet is studied using a vectorial 2D mode solver and the mode transformation along the coupler is studied by 3D Finite-Difference Time-Domain simulations. The couplers are optimized for operating with transverse electric (TE) polarization and the operating wavelength is centered at 1.55 μm., SPIE Optics + Optoelectronics, April 13-15, 2015, Prague, Czech Republic, Series: Proceedings of SPIE; no. 9516

Approaching the capacity limits of single-mode fiber based optical transmission systems, new fibers supporting the propagation of up to six orthogonal spatial modes, called few-mode fibers, stand as promising candidates for future high-capacity systems. Extensive research is being carried out to further increase the number of modes to multiplex more data. This technique is known as spatial division multiplexing (SDM). However, the co-existence of modes in the same space leads to inevitable modal crosstalk that may induce a loss of their orthogonality as well as power disparities. This phenomenon is called mode dependent loss (MDL) and mainly arises from optical components such as few-mode amplifiers. Although optical solutions were suggested to reduce MDL by inserting mode scramblers or using fibers with strong modal coupling, MDL was unfortunately not completely removed. In this work, we propose a DSP solution based on Space-Time (ST) coding along with OFDM, originally designed for multi-antenna channels, to mitigate MDL in SDM systems. We show that a combination of ST coding at the transmitter and an optimal distribution of mode scramblers in the optical link can completely absorb the penalties induced by important levels of MDL in 6-mode SDM systems. Later on, we address the complexity and scalability of the ST-coding solution and propose a sub-optimal decoding scheme that keeps the MDL-induced penalty low while considerably reducing the decoding complexity.

International audience; In mode-division multiplexed (MDM) transmission systems, mode coupling is responsible for inter-modal crosstalk. We consider the transmission of modulated signals over a few-mode fiber (FMF) having low mode coupling and large differential mode group delay in the presence of a non-ideal fiber connection responsible for extra mode coupling. In this context, we first analytically derive the coupling matrix of the multimode connector and we numerically study the dependence of the matrix coefficients as a function of the butt-joint connection characteristics. The numerical results are then validated through an experiment with a five-mode setup. Finally, through numerical simulations, we assess the impact of the connector on the signal quality investigating different receiver digital signal processing (DSP) schemes

International audience; A graded-index multi-mode fiber has been optimized to sustain a single excited mode when coupled with a standard single-mode fiber at 1310/1550nm while offering large effective modal bandwidth at 850nm under VCSEL excitations. Modeling and experimental results are presented.

The fundamental mode can be launched in the multimode(MM) fibers with high accuracy by suppressing modal speckle by using broad-bandwidth excitation sources such as ultra-short pluses. As temporal coherence length of broad-bandwidth sources is very short, temporal interference between the modes and thus the presence of speckle is prevented. In this paper, single-mode(SM) excitation of step-index and graded-index multimode fibers with light sources with short temporal coherence lengths is demonstrated using a Ti:Sapphire laser with wavelengths of 790 ran and 836 nm and pulse widths of 60-90 fs. As a result, the stability of the spatial beam profile was verified by coupling the output of a MM fiber into SM fiber and SM excitation in the presence of mode-coupling for the MM fibers was confirmed by experiment.

Visualizing the electromagnetic field transformation inside a microwave mode conversion region has been considered to be only realizable by simulation studies. For the first time, we present a comprehensive experimental observation of the electric field transformation occurring inside a metallic waveguide TE01-to-TE02 mode converter. An efficient electro-optic (EO) probe and its associated probing system were used for measuring the electric field pattern in the external near-field region as well as in the internal and penetrated region of the mode converter. Utilizing the optically measured field patterns at the aperture of the mode converter, the conversion performance from the TE01 mode to the TE02 mode can be also evaluated. Experimentally measured field patterns near the apertures show excellent agreement with simulation data. The mode conversion to the next higher-order mode (TE01 to TE02) was experimentally demonstrated with phase-stabilized and field-animated post processing. The presented in situ endoscopic photonic measurement technique for the field evolution inside a semi-enclosed structure could be used for visually inspecting manufacturing errors in fabricated structures, and could be of great interest for research on higher-order mode formation and transmission. (C) 2014 Optical Society of America

Measurements characterizing spatial mode filtering of mid-infrared (mid-IR) laser beams using hollow core fiber optics are presented. The mode filtering depends strongly on the fiber diameter, with effective mode filtering demonstrated with bore diameters of d = 200 µm and 300 µm. In addition to mode filtering, beam profile measurements also demonstrate the strong dependence of the mode quality on the fiber coupling conditions. As predicted, optimal coupling is achieved using relatively slow optics that produce focused spots that nearly fill the fiber diameter. Examples of the utility of using hollow fibers for mode-filtering to improve molecular spectroscopy experiments are also discussed.

We propose novel optical fiber for extremely large mode area with flat-top output beam. Numerical simulations show a record effective-area larger than 11,000µm2 from just a 58µm diameter core with flat-top output in rod-type configuration.

We present a four-core Yb-doped fiber that exhibits a mode instability threshold of 536W, which is about four times the threshold of a single core. This fiber design shows a route to circumvent mode instabilities.

The onset of mode instabilities is an effect occurring in high-average-power fiber lasers and amplifiers when their output average power exceeds a certain threshold value [1]. This effect is characterized by a sudden change of the output beam from an initially stable fundamental mode to a regime with more or less chaotic fluctuations between the fundamental mode and one or more higher-order modes (shown in Fig. 1). Mode instabilities occur in different fiber architectures and they can additionally be observed both in continuous wave and in pulsed operation. Only a few years after the first mention of this effect in the literature, it has become one of the most severe limitations for the further average-power scaling of fiber lasers and amplifiers.

CYCLOPS2 is an upgrade for the UCLES high resolution spectrograph on the Anglo-Australian Telescope, scheduled for commissioning in semester 2012A. By replacing the 5 mirror Coud\'e train with a Cassegrain mounted fibre-based image slicer CYCLOPS2 simultaneously provides improved throughput, reduced aperture losses and increased spectral resolution. Sixteen optical fibres collect light from a 5.0 arcsecond^2 area of sky and reformat it into the equivalent of a 0.6 arcsecond wide slit, delivering a spectral resolution of R = 70000 and up to twice as much flux as the standard 1 arcsecond slit of the Coud\'e train. CYCLOPS2 also adds support for simultaneous ThAr wavelength calibration via a dedicated fibre. CYCLOPS2 consists of three main components, the fore-optics unit, fibre bundle and slit unit. The fore optics unit incorporates magnification optics and a lenslet array and is designed to mount to the CURE Cassegrain instrument interface, which provides acquisition, guiding and calibration facilities. The fibre bundle transports the light from the Cassegrain focus to the UCLES spectrograph at Coud\'e and also includes a fibre mode scrambler. The slit unit consists of the fibre slit and relay optics to project an image of the slit onto the entrance aperture of the UCLES spectrograph. CYCLOPS2 builds on experience with the first generation CYCLOPS fibre system, which we also describe in this paper. We present the science case for an image slicing fibre feed for echelle spectroscopy and describe the design of CYCLOPS and CYCLOPS2., Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, published in Proc. SPIE 8446

We demonstrate an approach to actively stabilize the beam profile of a fiber amplifier above the mode instability threshold. Both the beam quality and the pointing stability are significantly increased at power levels of up to three times the mode instabilities threshold. The physical working principle is discussed at the light of the recently published theoretical explanations of mode instabilities.

Numerical and experimental study of a Few-Mode (FM) Erbium Doped Fiber Amplifier (EDFA) suitable for mode division multiplexing (MDM) is reported. Based on numerical simulations, a Few-Mode Erbium Doped Fiber (FM-EDF) has been designed to amplify four mode groups and to equally amplify LP11 and LP21 mode groups with gains greater than 20 dB and with a differential modal gain of less than 1 dB. Experimental results confirmed the simulations with a good concordance. This modal gain equalization is obtained by tailoring the erbium spatial distribution in the fiber core with a ring-shaped profile.

Fiber Bragg gratings are written across all 120 single-mode cores of a multi-core optical Fiber. The Fiber is interfaced to multimode ports by tapering it within a depressed-index glass jacket. The result is a compact multimode "photonic lantern" filter with astrophotonic applications. The tapered structure is also an effective mode scrambler.

This paper presents analytical descriptions of the behavior of weakly-guiding/weakly-coupled mode-selective fiber couplers, based on coupled-mode theory. Mode-selective couplers rely on the phase-matching of a higher-order mode in one fiber with the fundamental mode of a second, closely-positioned fiber. Their behavior is shown to be highly-dependent on the principle and azimuthal mode numbers of the higher-order mode, as well as its spatial-orientation. Zero coupling is shown to be possible for an asymmetric higher-order mode even when there is perfect phase-matching. The theory is also numerically simulated, and could assist in the future design of efficient mode-selective couplers for a wide range of optical communications and sensor systems. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Mode-interference along an active fiber in high-power operation gives rise to a longitudinally oscillating temperature profile which, in turn, is converted into a strong index grating via the thermo-optic effect. In the case of mode beating between the fundamental mode and a radially anti-symmetric mode such a grating exhibits two periodic features: a main one which is radially symmetric and has half the period of the modal beating, and a second one that closely follows the mode interference pattern and has its same period. In the case of modal beating between two radially symmetric modes the thermally induced grating only has radially symmetric features and exhibits the same period of the mode interference. The relevance of such gratings in the context of the recently observed mode instabilities of high-power fiber laser systems is discussed.

The interactions between parametrically and directly driven vibration modes of a clamped-clamped beam resonator are studied. An integrated piezoelectric transducer is used for direct and parametric excitation. First, the parametric amplification and oscillation of a single mode are analyzed by the power and phase dependence below and above the threshold for parametric oscillation. Then, the motion of a parametrically driven mode is detected by the induced change in resonance frequency in another mode of the same resonator. The resonance frequency shift is the result of the nonlinear coupling between the modes by the displacement-induced tension in the beam. These nonlinear modal interactions result in the quadratic relation between the resonance frequency of one mode and the amplitude of another mode. The amplitude of a parametrically oscillating mode depends on the square root of the pump frequency. Combining these dependencies yields a linear relation between the resonance frequency of the directly driven mode and the frequency of the parametrically oscillating mode., 5 pages, 4 figures

Manuscript : 17 pages, 3 figures; International audience; A large mode area single-mode optical fiber based on leaky mode filtering has been prepared by modified chemical vapor deposition (MCVD) technique. The fiber has a leaky cladding, which discriminates the fundamental mode from the higher order ones. A preliminary version has 25-µm core diameter and 0.11 numerical aperture. A Gaussian-like mode with 22-µm mode field diameter has been observed after 3-m propagation, in agreement with modeling.

Ytterbium-doped large-pitch fibers with very large mode areas are investigated in a high-power fiber amplifier configuration. An average output power of 294 W is demonstrated, while maintaining robust single-mode operation with a mode field diameter of 62 μm. Compared to previous active large-mode area designs, the threshold of mode instabilities is increased by a factor of about 3.

In this work, we have studied chromatic and modal dispersion of silica graded-index optical fibers as a function of mode depending parameters and a lunching condition in local area network (LAN) context. We have investigated mode-depending parameters, namely modal delay, modal attenuation and mode-coupling effects as a function of wavelength. We have proved that the number of excited mode groups depend on spot radius beam when the fiber is excited with a Gaussian input beam. On the other hand, we have demonstrated that we can get a good frequency response of system with a proper wavelength value and under an optimal launching condition in order to decrease the modal dispersion effects of multimode optical fiber. Finally, we have investigated the transfer function of MMF with taking into account chromatic and modal dispersion and considering two structured of studied optical fiber.

special issue « Fiber Optic Research in France » (Part II of III); International audience; In this paper we present a review of different micro-lenses we have developed at the end of single-mode fibers for improving optical coupling efficiency in communication systems. These micro-lenses find their applications in laser-diodes or integrated waveguides to single mode fibers, fiber to detector coupling, or fiber-to-fiber interconnecting. More generally, the applications concern active or passive components to single mode fiber coupling. Three kinds of micro-lenses are considered whose fabrication process has been designed to be very simple and low cost. Some of them are produced by companies in Lannion such as IDIL Fibers Optiques.

In this work, we have studied modal dispersion of silica graded-index optical fibers as a function of mode depending parameters and a lunching condition in local area network (LAN) context. We have investigated mode-depending parameters, namely modal delay, modal attenuation and mode-coupling effects as a function of wavelength. We have proved that the number of excited mode groups depend on spot radius beam when the fiber is excited with a Gaussian input beam. On the other hand, we have demonstrated that we can get a good frequency response of system with a proper wavelength value and under an optimal launching condition in order to decrease the modal dispersion effects of multimode optical fiber.

Experimental and theoretical results are presented on a surface plasmon fiber device that provides selective excitation of individual modes in a dual-mode optical fiber. Using prism coupling to probe this device, good modal discrimination was obtained experimentally for the LP/sub 1/1 fiber mode. The LP/sub 1/1 modal discrimination, however, was found to be inherently limited by the field distribution characteristics of the dual-mode fiber. Applications are to fixed and tunable mode tap or couplers. >

Deals with an additional source of noise in optical transmission systems. Optical fiber connectors in multimode fiber systems lead to a wavelength dependent attenuation of the transmitted light and hence give rise to mode partition noise if a multimode laser is used. The authors give theoretical estimations of the created excess noise which show that an increase of 25 dB by this modal mode partition noise is possible.