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In this paper, to accurately characterize the low inter-mode coupling of the weakly-coupled few mode fibers (FMFs), we propose a modified inter-mode coupling characterization method based on swept-wavelength interferometry measurement, in which an integral calculation approach is used to eliminate significant sources of error that may lead to underestimation of the power coupling coefficient. Using the proposed characterization method, a low-crosstalk ring-core fiber (RCF) with low mode dependent loss (MDL) and with single span length up to 100 km is experimentally measured to have low power coupling coefficients between high-order orbital angular momentum (OAM) mode groups of below -30 dB/km over C band. The measured low coupling coefficients based on the proposed method are verified by the direct system power measurements, proving the feasibility and reliability of the proposed inter-mode coupling characterization method., Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures

Recent experiments in orbital angular momentum multiplexing have demonstrated its potential for improving the link capacity in optical interconnection networks. Meanwhile, compact photonic integrated orbital angular momentum (de-)multiplexing devices are needed to address requirements such as high scalability, fast configurability, low cost and low power consumption. Here we report on a large-scale integrated tunable orbital angular momentum mode multiplexer, which supports up to 20 multiplexed orbital angular momentum modes over 16 wavelength channels with 30 GHz channel spacing. A testbed of nine multiplexed OAM beams encoded with 28 Gbaud 16-quadrature amplitude modulation signal is demonstrated, achieving a 1.008 Tbit s-1 aggregated rate with low penalty and sub-microsecond reconfiguration rate of the orbital angular momentum mode. This device offers an effective solution for replacing bulky diffractive optical elements, paving the way for orbital angular momentum multiplexing in optical interconnection networks., Comment: 8 pages, 5 Figures, to be submitted to Nature Communications

8-OAM modes each carrying 10 wavelengths with 2.56-Tbit/s aggregated capacity and 10.24-bit/s/Hz spectral efficiency have been transmitted over 50-km specially designed ring-core fiber, using a compact OAM mode sorter and only modular 4x4 MIMO equalization., Comment: 3 pages,2 figures, conference

Mode sorting is an essential function for optical systems exploiting the orthogonality of photonic orbital angular momentum mode space. The familiar log-polar optical transformation provides an efficient yet simple approach, however with its resolution restricted by a considerable overlap between adjacent modes resulting from the limited excursion of the phase along one complete circle around the optical vortex axis that is transformed into a line segment with finite length. We propose and experimentally verify a new optical transformation that maps spirals instead of closed concentric circles to parallel lines. As the phase excursion along a spiral in the transverse plane of orbital angular momentum modes is theoretically unlimited, this new optical transformation separates vortex modes with superior resolution while maintaining unity efficiency., Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures

Cylindrical vector vortex (CVV) beams, complex light fields that exhibit a vector nature and carry quantized orbital angular momentum states, have been widely investigated due to their rich applications. Current technologies to generate CVV beams using individual polarization and spatial phase manipulations suffer from bulky size and low configurability. In this work, we propose and experimentally demonstrate an approach to generate CVV beams with an integrated device based on silicon nitride microring resonator and embedded top-gratings. The device is capable of generating broad-band radially and azimuthally polarized vortex beams by simply switching the polarization and wavelength of the excited whispering-gallery-modes. In addition, we develop a method to fabricate the devices of shallow-etched top-gratings with only one-step etching. This novel method provides new capabilities to develop on-chip integrated devices with great ease and flexibility.

We report the first demonstration of a direct interaction between the extraordinary transverse spin angular momentum in evanescent waves and the intrinsic orbital angular momentum in optical vortex beams. By tapping the evanescent wave of whispering gallery modes in a micro-ring-based optical vortex emitter and engineering the transverse spin state carried therein, a transverse-spin-to-orbital conversion of angular momentum is predicted in the emitted vortex beams. Numerical and experimental investigations are presented for the proof-of-principle demonstration of this unconventional interplay between the spin and orbital angular momenta, which could provide new possibilities and restrictions on the optical angular momentum manipulation techniques on the sub-wavelength scale. This phenomenon further gives rise to an enhanced spin-direction coupling effect in which waveguide or surface modes are unidirectional excited by incident optical vortex, with the directionality jointly controlled by spin-orbit states. Our results enrich the spin-orbit interaction phenomena by identifying a previously unknown pathway between the polarization and spatial degrees of freedom of light, and can enable a variety of functionalities employing spin and orbital angular momenta of light in applications such as communications and quantum information processing.

Harnessing the Orbital Angular Momentum (OAM) of light is an appealing approach to developing photonic technologies for future applications in optical communications and high- dimensional Quantum Key Distributions (QKD). An outstanding challenge to the widespread uptake of the OAM resource is its efficient generation. We design a new device which can directly emit an OAM-carrying light beam. By fabricating micro-scale Spiral Phase Plates (SPPs) within the aperture of a Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Laser (VCSELs), the linearly polarized Gaussian beam emitted by the VCSEL is converted into a beam carrying specific OAM modes and their superposition states with high efficiency and high beam quality. The innovative OAM emitter opens a new horizon in the field of OAM-based optical and quantum communications, especially for short reach data interconnects and Quantum Key Distribution (QKD)., Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures