Mode decomposition of multimode optical fiber beams by phase-only spatial light modulator

Abstract

Multimode optical fibers (MMF) recently attracted a renewed attention, because of their potential for spatial division multiplexing, medical imaging and high-power fiber lasers, thanks to the discovery of new nonlinear optical effects, such as Kerr beam self-cleaning, spatiotemporal mode-locking, and geometric parametric instability, to name a few. The main feature of these effects is that many transverse modes are involved in nonlinear interactions. To advance our understanding, it is necessary to analyse the modal content of beams at the output of MMFs. In this work, based on a computer digital holography method using a phase-only spatial light modulator (SLM) as a correlation filter, we experimentally demonstrate a method of mode decomposition involving a large (≃80) number of fiber modes. To obtain this, we carried out a SLM calibration, and numerically investigated the most critical parameters which affect the fidelity of the decomposition, by comparing experimental and reconstructed beam patterns in both the linear (speckled structures) and in the nonlinear (self-cleaned beams) propagation regime.