LP11 Mode Research Articles

Dead Zone Fault Detection Optimization Method for Few-Mode Fiber Links Based on Unexcited Coupled Higher-Order Modes

Dead Zone Fault Detection Optimization Method for Few-Mode Fiber Links Based on Unexcited Coupled Higher-Order Modes

Low-loss and compact photonic lantern based on a step-index double cladding fiber.

The fulfilment of the adiabatic criterion is indispensable for the realization of a low-loss photonic lantern (PL), concurrently imposing a stringent restriction on the taper transition length of the PL. Here, by relaxing the adiabatic criterion, a low-loss and compact PL based on a step-index double cladding fiber (SI-DCF) is theoretically proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The use of SI-DCF can reduce the mode field diameter (MFD) expansion ratio during the tapering processing and greatly decrease the taper transition length required for adiabatic tapering. We initially evaluate the variation of both MFD and effective refractive index (RI) along the fiber tapering based on three types of fiber structures, including the modified standard single-mode fiber (SSMF), the graded-index fiber (GIF), and the proposed SI-DCF. In comparison with the commonly used fiber geometry, the SI-DCF can reduce the MFD expansion ratio from 77.73% to 38.81%, leading to more than half reduction of the tapering length for both 3-mode and 6-mode PLs. Then, two kinds of SI-DCF with different core diameters are fabricated to realize a 3-mode PL. The fabricated PL possesses a 1.5 cm tapering length and less than 0.2 dB insertion loss (IL). After splicing with the commercial few-mode fiber, the PL has an average IL of 0.6 dB and more than 13 dB LP11 mode purity over the C-band. Finally, a transfer matrix measurement indicates that the fabricated PLs have a mode coupling of less than -10 dB at 1550 nm.

All-fiber 3 kW LP02 laser output based on long-period fiber grating for precise welding

An innovative all-fiber mode converter specifically designed for high-power fiber lasers is introduced. The mode converter relies on the coupling theory of long-period fiber gratings (LPFGs) and involves the fabrication of a LPFG, where the performance is meticulously studied by examining various fabrication parameters. The LPFG is integrated into a high-power fiber laser system to achieve efficient conversion from the LP01 mode to the LP02 mode with a conversion ratio of 90 % and a low transmission loss of only 0.088 dB. Under a 3.03 kW laser output, the LP02 fiber laser exhibits a remarkable laser-to-raman peak intensity ratio, which is 15.98 dB higher than that of the signal-mode fiber laser. Furthermore, during the welding process of a thick aluminum plate, the LP02 fiber laser demonstrates a significant increase of 1.2 times in the depth of the weld pool morphology compared to the signal-mode fiber laser, particularly evident when operating at a laser welding head speed of 100 mm/s. The mode converter with LPFG exhibits lower insertion loss, enhanced power-handling capacity, making it ideal for diverse high-power fiber laser applications with promising practical prospects.

A low crosstalk seven-core five-mode fiber for high density transmission and large capacity communication

We propose a seven-core five-mode fiber with air hole-assisted and high refractive index ring structure, and it can be fabricated by the stack-and-draw technique. The air hole auxiliary structure can significantly restrain the energy coupling between cores, and the high refractive index ring structure can meet the requirements of low intra-core crosstalk (XT) by improving the effective refractive index difference (Δn eff ) between adjacent modes. Through analyzing the influence of the number and arrangement of air holes on inter-core XT and effective mode field area (A eff ), it can be achieved the results that the inter-core XT is less than −44 dB/100 km and all the A eff values of LP modes are greater than 100 μm2 in the seven-core five-mode fiber when the wavelength is 1550 nm and the bending radius (R) is 80 mm. At the same time, the Δn eff between LP21 and LP02 mode can be controlled to 1.3 × 10−3 by adjusting the parameters of the high refractive index ring. In addition, the relative core multiplexing factor (RCMF) of the seven-core five-mode fiber is as high as 88.34. The simulation results show that the seven-core five-mode fiber has high spatial density and is suitable for the communication system with multi-channel and long-distance transmission.

Full higher-order Poincaré sphere beam mode-locked fiber laser

In this paper, the controlled generation of full higher-order Poincaré sphere (HOPS) beams from a mode-locked fiber laser was introduced and demonstrated. In the cavity, two mirror-placed spatial mode converters, consisted of the vortex waveplate, quarter waveplate and half waveplate, were applied to achieve the mutual conversion of the LP01 mode and HOPS beams. Then, the full HOPS beams mode-locked fiber laser was established to obtain the circularly polarized vortex beams, cylindrical vector beams (CVBs), and elliptically polarized CVBs, with pulse width of 390 ps, repetition frequency of 14.7 MHz, central wavelength of 1043.35 nm and 3 dB bandwidth of 0.53 nm. The results may be potentially important for the generation of full HOPS beam from a mode-locked fiber laser.

Mode-selective power splitters for mode-division multiplexing optical networks

We propose an all-fiber mode-selective power splitter (MSPS) for non-circular-symmetric LP lm (l = 1, 2, …) modes, which is suitable for multicasting and optical performance monitoring in mode-division multiplexing optical fiber networks. The MSPSs are asymmetric two-core few-mode directional couplers composed of a few-mode fiber and a two-mode fiber. We theoretically studied the three conditions required by the MSPSs. By carefully choosing the core-to-core distance and coupling length, the MSPS can achieve arbitrary splitting ratio regardless of the modal field orientation of the input non-circular-symmetric LP mode. By using an asymmetric structure, the MSPS can ensure the power splitting only happens on the target non-circular-symmetric LP mode when the phase matching condition is satisfied. In addition, we designed and numerically simulated LP31 MSPSs with four kinds of splitting ratios, among which the one with 90/10 splitting ratio was fabricated based on tapering and polishing method. The fabricated LP31 MSPS is characterized and the results show that its splitting ratio is much more stable than regular LP31 mode-selective coupler.

Multiparameter sensor based on long-period grating in few-mode ring-core fiber for vector curvature and torsion measurement

With the rapid development of optical fiber sensor in physical measurement, it is of practical significant to realize multi-parameter measurement. In this work, we proposed and demonstrated a multiparameter sensor for curvature, torsion and temperature. The sensor is formed from CO2 laser-inscribed long-period grating (LPG) in few-mode ring-core fiber (RCF), which can convert fundamental mode to LP11 mode. One-side inscription enhances asymmetric index modulation in fiber, resulting in directionally sensitive to bend by intensity interrogation. The curvature sensitivities in various bending directions perform linearity in curvature range of 5–9.466 m−1. Curvature sensitivities are related to the bending directions. The intensity sensitivity achieves − 0.584 dB/m−1, 0.879 dB/m−1, and − 0.735 dB/m−1, respectively. And torsion sensitivity from -6.98 rad/m to 6.98 rad/m displays linearity with −0.554 dB/(rad/m). The measured influence of temperature can be negligible. The proposed RCF-LPG could not only be used as high-efficiency mode converter in mode division multiplexing systems but also be potential in few-mode fiber based multiparameter sensing fields.

All-Fiber Low-Modal-Crosstalk Demultiplexers for DSP-Free IM/DD LP-Mode MDM Transmission

Weakly coupled mode-division multiplexing (MDM) techniques supporting intensity modulation and direct detection (IM/DD) transmission are promising methods of enhancing the capacity of short-reach scenarios in which low-modal-crosstalk-mode demultiplexers for degenerate linear polarized (LP) modes are highly desired. In this paper, we review two degenerate-mode reception schemes. Firstly, a low-modal-crosstalk orthogonal combined reception method for degenerate modes is proposed based on all-fiber mode-selective couplers, in which signals in both degenerate modes are demultiplexed into the LP01 mode of single-mode fibers and then are multiplexed into the mutually orthogonal LP01 and LP11 modes of a two-mode fiber (TMF) for simultaneous detection. Secondly, a novel degenerate-mode-selective coupler consisting of an input few-mode fiber and an output TMF is proposed, which could demultiplex degenerate LP modes without any digital signal processing (DSP). Both demultiplexers are achieved based on the taper and polish process. The fabricated devices are characterized and compared. The results show that the proposed schemes can pave the way to the practical implementation of DSP-free IM/DD LP-mode MDM transmission systems.

Wide-bandwidth mode converter based on a dual-hollow-core anti-resonant fiber

This paper proposes a broadband mode converter utilizing a dual-hollow-core anti-resonant fiber (DHC-ARF) for the first time, in which the mode index matching between LP01 and LP11 modes is achieved by adjusting the core diameter size of the hollow-core anti-resonant fiber (HC-ARF). Notably, the air gap can become the main channel for the energy exchange between the two cores by adjusting the air gap size between the two cores of the DHC-ARF. The coupling length of the mode converter is greatly reduced, and a compact and broadband mode converter is realized. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed mode converter achieves a coupling efficiency (CE) of 92.79 % at a wavelength of 1.55 μm at a length of 10.7 mm. The bandwidth of 330 nm at a CE greater than 90 % covers the E + S + C + L + U bands. The proposed mode converter exhibits a large core diameter compatible with hollow-core fiber communication and is expected to be applied for high-speed and high-capacity hollow-core mode-division-multiplexing fiber-optic communication. The device design methodology presented in this paper can also provide technical references for developing higher-order mode converters, such as LP01 mode to LP02 mode and LP01 mode to LP21 mode, based on DHC-ARF.

High-order-mode Brillouin random fiber laser based on distributed Rayleigh scattering in all-few mode fiber half-open cavity

A high-order-mode (HOM) Brillouin random fiber laser (BRFL) based on distributed Rayleigh scattering in an all-few-mode fiber random cavity is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. Compared to traditional BRFLs oscillating in the single-mode-fiber cavity, the few-mode-fiber random cavity allows the high-order spatial mode Stokes beams to be activated and amplified via intra-mode stimulated Brillouin scattering for sufficient gain. Besides random feedback of distributed Rayleigh scattering along few-mode fibers, a few-mode fiber Bragg grating (FM-FBG) is employed to provide the one-end transverse mode-dependent reflection, which facilitates a high-purity oscillating random laser mode switchable between LP01 and LP11 mode by readily tunning the working wavelength of the Brillouin pump. Consequently, the all few-mode fiber-based BRFL emits a 600-Hz narrow-linewidth LP11 mode with a high mode purity of ∼91.3 %, which paves the way for spatial multiplexing coherent communication, high-resolution imaging, highly sensitive sensing, etc.

Simultaneous realization of high gain and low DMG of four-mode EDFA under bidirectional hybrid-mode pump.

We theoretically and experimentally verify that, the bidirectional hybrid-mode pumping scheme can address the optimization problem of trade-off between high gain and low differential modal gain (DMG) of four-mode erbium-doped fiber amplifier (4M-EDFA), in comparison with traditional both forward and backward hybrid-mode pumping scheme. It is noticed that, when the total pump power is fixed, the bidirectional hybrid-mode pumping scheme can not only achieve higher gain, but also suppress DMG due to different overlap integrals for the forward and backward pumping schemes. The bidirectional hybrid-mode pumped 4M-EDFA is developed with the forward pumping at LP02 mode and the backward pumping at LP21 mode, under a pump power ratio of 30%:70%. Thus, we can achieve an average gain of up to 21.16 dB and a low DMG of 0.43 dB at 1550 nm, and an average gain of up to 20.64 dB with a DMG of less than 1.6 dB over the C-band. In particular, the bidirectional hybrid-mode pumping scheme allows us to tailor the gain characteristics of the few-mode erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (FM-EDFAs), by adjusting the power ratio between forward and backward pumps.

Low crosstalk six-core five-mode fiber with high refractive index rings and air trench

A novel six-core five-mode fiber composed of an air trench and high refractive index ring is proposed in this paper. Numerical analysis shows that the fiber can stably transmit five LP modes in the C + L band. The effective refractive index difference of the five LP modes at 1.55 μm is more significant than 1.4 × 10-3, which is conducive to the independent transmission of the modes. The inter-core crosstalk of the fiber is less than -95 (dB / 100km). Therefore, the fiber can be well used to build a large-capacity optical fiber transmission system.

High-power polarization-maintaining LP11-mode fiber laser based on long-period fiber grating for precise welding.

An LP11-mode output all-fiber laser was presented, utilizing long-period fiber gratings (LPFGs) and polarization-maintaining optical fiber (PMF). The LPFG was designed and fabricated, achieving a 90.56% efficiency in LP01 to LP11 mode conversion. Furthermore, the transmission stability of LP11-mode in the PMF was also explored, with the spatial mode overlap ratio exceeding 0.95. Ultimately, the high-power polarization-maintaining (PM) fiber laser, capable of the LP11 mode output, was constructed, with the output power of 600 W and the beam quality M2 of 2.84. During the process of welding a thick Al-plate, the LP11 fiber laser exhibits a notable 1.88 times greater depth of fusion compared to the commercial single-mode fiber laser, when operating at the laser welding head speed of 100 mm/s. For applications demanding non-circular symmetric high-order modes, this research holds substantial potential for widespread adoption within the field of industrial processing.

Ultra‐Compact and Efficient Integrated Multichannel Mode Multiplexer in Silicon for Few‐Mode Fibers

AbstractSpace‐division multiplexing (SDM) is one of the key enabling technologies to increase the capacity of fiber communication systems. However, implementing SDM‐based systems using multimode fiber has been challenging with the need for compact, low‐cost, and scalable mode de/multiplexer (DE/MUX). Here a novel integrated mode MUX for few‐mode fibers (FMFs) is presented which can launch up to eight spatial and polarization channels. The new design is composed of a 2D multimode grating coupler (MMGC), highly compact spot size converters (SSCs), and adiabatic directional couplers (ADCs). Eight data lanes in FMFs can be selectively launched with integrated optical phase shifters. Experimental results reveal efficient chip‐to‐fiber coupling with peak efficiencies of −3.8, −5.5, −3.6, and −4.1 dB for LP01, LP11a, LP11b, and LP21b modes, respectively. Thanks to the use of an integrated subwavelength Mikaelian lens for mode‐independent field size conversion with loss ≤−0.25 dB, the total footprint of the MMGC and SSCs is only 35×35 µm2. The proposed design shows great potential for densely integrated photonic circuits in future SDM applications.

Intermodal effective phase matching for second harmonic generation of ultrashort pulses in high index contrast optical fibers

Second harmonic generation (SHG) in glass optical fibers calls for creating a second order susceptibility in the fiber glass and for achieving phase matching between the pump and the second harmonic signal. The latter is very challenging when using ultrashort pulses, given that the group velocities of the pump and the second harmonic should also be matched. We have shown in previous work that it is possible to achieve simultaneous modal phase matching (MPM) and group velocity matching (GVM) when the pump and the second harmonic are propagating in the LP01 and LP02 modes, respectively, in high GeO2-content double-clad optical fibers. However, simultaneous MPM and GVM can only be obtained in optical fibers with dedicated designs and within very tight geometrical tolerances. In this paper, we show that instead of considering the matching of phase and group velocities separately, we can consider a more general or “effective” phase matching approach, in which we consider all the dispersion terms up to the second order in the expressions of the propagation constants of the pump and second harmonic signals. This allows introducing the pulse duration as a controllable parameter that helps to enforce the said effective phase matching in fibers with designs that deviate by as much as 10% from the target, while providing for temporal walk-off lengths in excess of several centimeters. The impact of this finding goes beyond SHG only and can be applied to other ultrashort laser pulse-based nonlinear optical processes in fibers and waveguides.

A segment-coupled six-mode multiplexer based on multi-core fiber

In this paper, a segment-coupled six-mode multiplexer based on multi-core fiber (MCF) is proposed to achieve multiplexing of LP01, LP11, LP21, LP02, LP31 and LP12 modes according to the principle of mode coupling and phase matching. The mode multiplexer consists of a two-part fiber waveguide that supports six modes of transmission at 1.55 μm wavelength. The transmission performance is analyzed with the finite element method (FEM) and the beam propagation method (BPM). The simulation results show that the insertion loss (IL) of the mode multiplexer is less than 1 dB in the wavelength range of 1.5439–1.5558 μm, and the lowest IL is 0.1837 dB. The coupling efficiencies (CEs) of the six modes are 99.7 %, 92.0 %, 98.6 %, 98.3 %, 97.4 % and 86.6 %, respectively. The designed mode multiplexer dramatically improves fiber space utilization while achieving more higher-order mode conversion. The mode multiplexer can be applied to the mode division multiplexing (MDM) system to solve the problem of mode multiplexing and demultiplexing.

Asymmetric transmission of cascaded acousto-optic device and whispering gallery mode microcavity

In this paper, an asymmetric transmission scheme is proposed by cascading an acousto-optic device and a coupled whispering gallery mode (WGM) microsphere cavity, and it is demonstrated theoretically and experimentally. With the acousto-optic interaction in a fiber, the vector modes of the fundamental core mode can be converted into the different vector modes of a cladding (linear polarization, LP) mode, and because of the optical path difference between the cladding vector modes, the polarization of the cladding mode will be changed. The cladding mode can be converted back into the core fundamental mode by coupling a WGM microcavity. By calculating the overlapping of the mode fields in the tapered fiber and the microcavity at the resonance wavelength, the coupling coefficients between different LP modes and WGM will be solved. And, the transmitivities and conversion coefficients of the two fiber modes can be obtained on condition that the polarization of the incident light does not coincide with the polarization orientation of the WGM. The transmission spectra of the coupled WGM microcavity are calculated by using Matlab program for eight states, including the states at different incident directions, different incident polarizations of input, whether the acoustic wave is on or off. The results show that the conversion coefficient from the cladding mode to the core mode is completely different from that of the contrary process when the acoustic wave is working. And the forward incident light and backward incident light have completely different transmission characteristics, thus resulting in the asymmetric transmission. The transmittances of forward incidence and reverse incidence at different polarizations are also studied, both of them change periodically with the polarization angle, and their phase difference is equal to the polarization change caused by acousto-optic interaction in the fiber. In the experiment, a two-stage tapered fiber is used to realize the acousto-optic interaction and the coupling of whispering gallery mode at the same time. By controlling the working states of the system, the same 8 states as in the calculation are studied experimentally. The results show that due to the polarization-selection effect of the WGM, the light energy incident from the opposite directions will show different transmission characteristics. While the forward transmittance reaches a maximum value of about 0.505, the reverse transmittance reaches a minimum value of about 0.010, and the transmission isolation reaches about 17 dB. The transmittances in two directions are measured at different incident polarization angles, the transmission isolation is analyzed, and the polarization change of cladding mode in the fiber is verified to be about <inline-formula><tex-math id="M1">\begin{document}${80^ \circ }$\end{document}</tex-math><alternatives><graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="1-20230653_M1.jpg"/><graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="1-20230653_M1.png"/></alternatives></inline-formula>. The measured results coincide with the calculations from the developed theory well. Finally, the shortcomings and optimization method of the scheme are discussed. The asymmetric transmission scheme in this paper inherits the advantages of rapid response and good tuning of acousto-optic device, and has an all-fiber structure, which has important application potential in optical switch and isolator.

LP modes exchange based on multiplane light conversion

LP modes exchange based on multiplane light conversion

Analysis of acoustic modes induced by backward stimulated Brillouin scattering in acoustic wave-guided single mode optical fibers

In this work, the acoustic Helmholtz equation is derived, and its analytical solution and the characteristic equation of the uniform guide mode in single mode fibers are obtained by the method of separation of variables. The normalized frequency of the acoustic mode is defined. By combining the argument approximation of the Bessel function are analyzed the eigenvalue range of the acoustic mode, the cut-off frequency, far from the cut-off state of the acoustic mode induced by backward stimulated Brillouin scattering, the dispersion and the multi-peak Brillouin gain spectrum. The research results indicate that the longitudinal acoustic fundamental mode L<sub>01</sub> cannot be cut-off and is mainly confined in the fiber core, which is coupled with the optical fundamental mode LP<sub>01</sub> to form the main peak of the Brillouin gain spectrum. The other higher-order acoustic modes all have low cut-off frequencies and are distributed more in the fiber cladding than mode L<sub>01</sub> which couples with the optical fundamental mode LP<sub>01</sub> to form the subpeaks of the Brillouin gain spectrum. The transverse normalized phase constant and effective refractive index of the acoustic mode increase with normalized frequency increasing. Only longitudinal acoustic modes L<sub>0<i>n</i></sub> contribute to backward Brillouin gain spectrum in single mode fiber. When the GeO<sub>2</sub> concentration is less than 4% and core radius is 4.5 μm, the single mode characteristics of the fiber remain unchanged, but the maximum number of acoustic L<sub>0<i>n</i></sub> modes is 4. With the increase of GeO<sub>2</sub> concentration in the fiber core, the Brillouin gain spectrum is red-shifted and the number of acoustic modes increases, the Brillouin gain peak value of L<sub>01</sub> mode gradually increases, and the contributions of higher-order modes decrease. The single-mode fiber with a core’s germanium doped concentration of 3.65% and core radius of 4.3 μm has 4 L<sub>0<i>n</i></sub> modes and 16 L<sub><i>mn</i> </sub>(<i>m</i>>0) modes at a wavelength of 1.55 μm, with one main peak and two subpeaks in the Brillouin gain spectrum appearing due to the acousto-optic coupling of the acoustic L<sub>01</sub>, L<sub>03</sub>, and L<sub>04</sub> modes with the optical LP<sub>01</sub> mode. The single-mode fiber with a core’s germanium doped concentration of 15% and core radius of 1.3 μm has 3 L<sub>0<i>n</i></sub> modes and 7 L<sub><i>mn</i> </sub>(<i>m</i>>0) modes, with the Brillouin gain spectrum having 3 main peaks due to the acousto-optic coupling of the L<sub>01</sub>, L<sub>02</sub>, and L<sub>03</sub> modes with the LP<sub>01</sub> mode. These conclusions are well consistent with the reported experimental phenomena and provide theoretical references for studying and utilizing the SBS acoustic waveguide in optical fibers.

Experimental Dataset of Tunable Mode Converter Based on Long-Period Fiber Gratings Written in Few-Mode Fiber: Impacts of Thermal, Wavelength, and Polarization Variations

Mode division multiplexing (MDM) is currently one of the most attractive multiplexing techniques in optical communications, as it allows for an increase in the number of channels available for data transmission. Optical modal converters are one of the main devices used in this technique. Therefore, the characterization and improvement of these devices are of great current interest. In this work, we present a dataset of 49,736 near-field intensity images of a modal converter based on a long-period fiber grating (LPFG) written on a few-mode fiber (FMF). This characterization was performed experimentally at various wavelengths, polarizations, and temperature conditions when the device converted from LP01 mode to LP11 mode. The results show that the modal converter can be tuned by adjusting these parameters, and that its operation is optimal under specific circumstances which have a great impact on its performance. Additionally, the potential application of the database is validated in this work. A modal decomposition technique based on the particle swarm algorithm (PSO) was employed as a tool for determining the most effective combinations of modal weights and relative phases from the spatial distributions collected in the dataset. The proposed dataset can open up new opportunities for researchers working on image segmentation, detection, and classification problems related to MDM technology. In addition, we implement novel artificial intelligence techniques that can help in finding the optimal operating conditions for this type of device.