Orbital Angular Momentum Fiber Research Articles

Compact and high-performance vortex mode sorter for multi-dimensional multiplexed fiber communication systems

With the amplitude, time, wavelength/frequency, phase, and polarization/spin parameter dimensions of the light wave/photon almost fully utilized in both classical and quantum photonic information systems, orbital angular momentum (OAM) carried by optical vortex modes is regarded as a new modal parameter dimension for further boosting the capacity and performance of the systems. To exploit the OAM mode space for such systems, stringent performance requirements on a pair of OAM mode multiplexer and demultiplexer (also known as mode sorters) must be met. In this work, we implement a newly discovered optical spiral transformation to achieve a low-cross-talk, wide-optical-bandwidth, polarization-insensitive, compact, and robust OAM mode sorter that realizes the desired bidirectional conversion between seven co-axial OAM modes carried by a ring-core fiber and seven linearly displaced Gaussian-like modes in parallel single-mode fiber channels. We further apply the device to successfully demonstrate high-spectral-efficiency and high-capacity data transmission in a 50-km OAM fiber communication link for the first time, in which a multi-dimensional multiplexing scheme multiplexes eight orbital-spin vortex mode channels with each mode channel simultaneously carrying 10 wavelength-division multiplexing channels, demonstrating the promising potential of both the OAM mode sorter and the multi-dimensional multiplexed OAM fiber systems enabled by the device. Our results pave the way for future OAM-based multi-dimensional communication systems.

Helical Bragg gratings filter for orbital angular momentum wave

Effective filtration of orbital angular momentum (OAM) modes is essential to achieve multiple-channel data transmission in an OAM fiber for telecommunication applications. The nature of helical-shaped OAM wave propagation possessing many topological charges implies the need for uniquely designed index-modulated filters to conform to its twisted propagating direction in the fiber. Here, different from previous structures in demultiplexing OAM modes, a helical-shaped fiber grating structure concept is proposed as a pathway toward efficient demultiplexing of OAM modes in a fiber. A comparison of our proposed structure with the conventional fiber Bragg filter in transmitting an OAM wave shows a stronger reflection of the higher order OAM mode. We suggest that the proposed fiber Bragg structure has strong potential to be used for OAM fiber telecommunication technology.

Amplifying Orbital Angular Momentum Modes in Ring-Core Erbium-Doped Fiber.

Lots of research efforts have been devoted to increase the transmission capacity in optical communications using orbital angular momentum (OAM) multiplexing. To enable long-haul OAM mode transmission, an in-line OAM fiber amplifier is desired. A ring-core fiber (RCF) is considered to be a preferable design for stable OAM mode propagation in the fiber. Here, we demonstrate an OAM fiber amplifier based on a fabricated ring-core erbium-doped fiber (RC-EDF). We characterize the performance of the RC-EDF-assisted OAM fiber amplifier and demonstrate its use in OAM multiplexing communications with OAM modes carrying quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK) and quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) signals. The amplification of two OAM modes over four wavelengths is demonstrated in a data-carrying OAM-division multiplexing and wavelength-division multiplexing system. The obtained results show favorable performance of the RC-EDF-assisted OAM fiber amplifier. These demonstrations may open up new perspectives for long-haul transmission in capacity scaling fiber-optic communications employing OAM modes.

Design Analysis of OAM Fibers Using Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithm

We study the design of ring core fibers (RCFs) supporting orbital angular momentum (OAM) modes for mode division multiplexing (MDM) transmission systems. We develop target criteria to optimize fiber designs using a particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm under fabrication constraints. Effective index separation Δ neff and polarization purity of each OAM mode are known to determine modal crosstalk levels. To reduce the complexity of multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) processing required to compensate for modal crosstalk, we define an objective function based on these quantities. Our design analysis focuses on four different concepts of step-index RCF leading to different modal and structural characteristics. The optimum design for each concept is derived using the PSO algorithm. We investigate the impact of hollow-core and/or higher-order radial modes on Δ neff and polarization purity. Design strategies for increasing Δ neff and polarization purity are discussed in light of robustness to fabrication errors. We finally discuss the scalability and potential limitations of this design.

WDM-Compatible Polarization-Diverse OAM Generator and Multiplexer in Silicon Photonics

Spatial multiplexing using orbital angular momentum (OAM) modes is an efficient means of scaling up the capacity of fiber-optic communications systems; integrated multiplexers are crucial enablers of this approach. OAM modes are circularly polarized when propagating in a fiber, however, OAM generators previously demonstrated in silicon photonics use locally linearly polarized emitters. Coupling from multiplexers to fibers in those solutions results in extra loss and complexity. Moreover, many of those solutions are based on resonator structures with strong wavelength dependence, and are thus incompatible with wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM). We experimentally demonstrate on-chip generation and multiplexing of OAM modes using an array of circularly polarized 2-D antennas with wide wavelength coverage. The proposed device was implemented on the standard 220-nm silicon-on-insulator platform. Optical vortex beams with OAM orders ranging from −3 to +3 in both left and right circular polarization states were generated from the same aperture across a wavelength range of 1540 to 1557 nm. This device could serve as a multiplexer or demultiplexer for up to 12 information bearing channels coupling into an OAM fiber, and is compatible with WDM multiplexing as well.

Inter-modal Raman amplification of OAM fiber modes

Raman scattering among conventional linearly polarized (LP) modes in single mode optical fibers is generally accepted as a promising way to achieve distributed amplification due to the fact that Raman amplification may provide gain at any wavelength, determined by the used pump wavelength, and excellent noise performance. Here, we show that Raman scattering among orbital angular momentum (OAM) modes in optical fibers have similar properties. We show theoretically that the Raman gain among OAM modes is independent on the topological charge of the OAM modes and that the gain efficiency when the pump and signal are parallel (orthogonally) polarized is similar to the Raman scattering among LP modes in parallel (orthogonal) states of polarization. In addition, we experimentally characterize Raman gain among OAM modes in a fiber supporting multiple OAM modes for both the pump and signal. Finally, we discuss the impact of polarization mode dispersion.

Distinguishing Wavelengths of Optical Beams by OAM Beams Based on an OAM Optical Fiber

In order to separate the multiplexed beams with different wavelengths in an all-fiber network, a novel concept of distinguishing different wavelengths by the orbital angular momentum (OAM) beams [i.e., L(topological charge) =1 and $L=-1$ ] based on the OAM fiber is proposed and investigated in the theory and experiments. Meanwhile, a new OAM fiber supporting the first order vector modes (i.e., TE0,1, HE2,1, and TM0,1) is also designed and fabricated. For the sake of verifying the feasibility of the proposed scheme, an experimental platform is anticipated and established. Bit error rates (BERs) and constellation diagrams are employed to evaluate the performance of the proposed schemes with respect to the transmission rate of data (V) and the difference of wavelength between the two input lasers. The simulated and measured results demonstrate that two different wavelengths (i.e., 1548 and 1545 nm) with the cycle of 14 and 10 nm can be distinguished though two OAM beams (i.e., $L=1$ and $L=-1$ ), respectively. The measured BERs and constellation diagrams with respect to data rates (V) depict that the performance of the proposed schemes degenerates with the increment of data rates (V) from 5 to 40 Gb/s. Similarly, the measured BERs and constellation diagrams with respect to the difference of wavelengths also demonstrate that the performance of the proposed scheme can be improved by increasing the difference of wavelengths from 1 to 4 nm.

18 km low-crosstalk OAM + WDM transmission with 224 individual channels enabled by a ring-core fiber with large high-order mode group separation.

The space domain is regarded as the only known physical dimension of lightwaves left to be exploited for optical communications. Very recently, much research effort has been devoted to using orbital angular momentum (OAM) spatial modes to increase the transmission capacity in fiber-optic communications. However, long-distance low-crosstalk high-order OAM multiplexing transmission in fiber is quite challenging. Here we design and fabricate a graded-index ring-core fiber to effectively suppress radially high-order modes and greatly separate high-order OAM mode groups. By exploiting high-order OAM mode group multiplexing, together with wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM), i.e., 12.5Gbaud 8-array quadrature amplitude modulation (8-QAM) signals over OAM+4 and OAM+5 modes on 112 WDM channels (224 individual channels), we experimentally demonstrate 8.4Tbit/s data transmission in an 18km OAM fiber with low crosstalk. Multiple-input multiple-output digital signal processing is not required in the experiment because of the large high-order mode group separation of the OAM fiber. The demonstrations may open a door to find more fiber-optic communication and interconnect applications exploiting high-order OAM modes.

Integrated Circularly Polarized OAM Generator and Multiplexer for Fiber Transmission

Unlike linearly polarized modes in fiber, modes exploiting orbital angular momentum (OAM) are circularly polarized when propagating in fiber. The use of OAM modes for spatial multiplexing requires efficient, low cost mode generators and multiplexers. We propose such a device based on the standard 220-nm silicon-on-insulator platform, taking multiple single-mode data-modulated signals, and imprinting these signals on right- and left-circularly polarized OAM channels on a single, multiplexed output. The device is designed to easily couple to an OAM fiber with a ring-shaped core. This approach treating circular polarization within the multiplexer allows us to avoid the losses associated with filtering out unwanted polarization to create a single polarization. Designing the device to have an output matched to the OAM fiber mode profile also avoids mode size conversion. We describe our design methodology and optimization techniques using a transfer-matrix model and the finite-difference time-domain method. A candidate design is simulated and modal crosstalk is examined, showing that low-crosstalk OAM multiplexing can be achieved through direct fiber-to-chip coupling.

Design of a circular photonic crystal fiber with square air-holes for orbital angular momentum modes transmission

A new circular photonic crystal fiber (C-PCF) with square air -holes in the cladding is proposed, which can support much more orbital angular momentum (OAM) modes. To optimize the design, the dependence of the number of OAM modes on fiber structure parameters is investigated. The simulation results show that the designed C-PCF can support 46 OAM modes stably over 800 nm bandwidth from 1.2 μm to 2.0 μm. Furthermore, the proposed C-PCF exhibits excellent fiber features, such as large effective index differences (˃10−4) without doping, low confinement loss (lower than 10−9 dB/m), relatively flat dispersion and small nonlinear coefficient (less than 2.58 km−1 W−1) for all eigenmodes. The proposed C-PCF could be a well-promising OAM fiber for mode division multiplexing(MDM) in high capacity fiber communication systems.

The Orbital Angular Momentum Modes Supporting Fibers Based on the Photonic Crystal Fiber Structure

The orbital angular momentum (OAM) of light can be another physical dimension that we exploit to make multiplexing in the spatial domain. The design of the OAM mode supporting fiber attracts many attentions in the field of the space division multiplexing (SDM) system. This paper reviews the recent progresses in photonic crystal fiber (PCF) supporting OAM modes, and summarizes why a PCF structure can be used to support stable OAM transmission modes. The emphasis is on the circular PCFs, which possess many excellent features of transmission performance, such as good-quality OAM modes, enough separation of the effective indices, low confinement loss, flat dispersion, a large effective area, and a low nonlinear coefficient. We also compare the transmission properties between the circular PCF and the ring core fiber, as well as the properties between the OAM EDFA based on circular PCF and the OAM EDFA based on the ring core fiber. At last, the challenges and prospects of OAM fibers based on the PCF structure are also discussed.

The Impact of Modal Interactions on Receiver Complexity in OAM Fibers

We experimentally study the modal interactions in mode division multiplexing (MDM) links supporting orbital angular momentum (OAM) modes of order zero and one. We use time of flight and channel impulse response measurements to characterize our OAM-MDM link and quantify modal impairments. We examine two OAM fibers with different index profiles and differential mode group delays (DMGD) between supported vector modes. Data transmission experiments probe the impact of modal impairments on digital signal processing complexity and achievable bit error rate for OAM-MDM link. We discuss in particular memory depth requirements for equalizers in separate mode detection schemes, and how memory depth varies with DMGD metrics as well as crosstalk level.

Erbium-doped amplification in circular photonic crystal fiber supporting orbital angular momentum modes

We propose a new orbital angular momentum (OAM) erbium-doped fiber amplifier based on a circular photonic crystal fiber, which can support a total of 18 modes (14 OAM modes) over C-band. A correction factor is proposed to modify the overlap factor, with the aim of evaluating the performance of the amplifier more accurately. We found that the confined doping profile can help optimize the differential model gain (DMG). Numerical simulations suggest that the proposed OAM fiber amplifier can provide a gain larger than 20 dB for all 14 OAM modes, with the small DMG less than 0.2 dB and the noise figure lower than 3.5 dB across the C-band.

Demonstration of km-scale orbital angular momentum multiplexing transmission using 4-level pulse-amplitude modulation signals.

By designing and fabricating two kinds of orbital angular momentum (OAM) fibers, we demonstrate two OAM modes (OAM+1 and OAM-1) multiplexing transmission and demultiplexing in OAM fiber links. Moreover, we also experimentally demonstrate 4-level pulse-amplitude modulation (PAM-4) signal transmission using two OAM modes multiplexing in a km-scale OAM fiber and achieve a bit-error rate (BER) below 2×10-3 without multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) digital signal processing (DSP). The obtained results with favorable data-carrying OAM multiplexing transmission performance show potential application in km-scale short-reach optical interconnects.

Integrated optical vortex beam receivers.

A simple and ultra-compact integrated optical vortex beam receiver device is presented. The device is based on the coupling between the optical vortex modes and whispering gallery modes in a micro-ring resonator via embedded angular gratings, which provides the selective reception of optical vortex modes with definitive total angular momentum (summation of spin and orbital angular momentum) through the phase matching condition in the coupling process. Experimental characterization confirms the correct detection of the total angular momentum carried by the vortex beams incident on the device. In addition, photonic spin-controlled unidirectional excitation of whispering-gallery modes in the ring receiver is also observed, and utilized to differentiate between left- and right-circular polarizations and therefore unambiguously identify the orbital angular momentum of incident light. Such characteristics provide an effective mode-selective receiver for the eigen-modes in orbital angular momentum fiber transmission where the circularly polarized OAM modes can be used as data communications channels in multiplexed communications or as photonic states in quantum information applications.

Full-duplex bidirectional data transmission link using twisted lights multiplexing over 1.1-km orbital angular momentum fiber.

We present a full-duplex bidirectional data transmission link using twisted lights multiplexing over 1.1-km orbital angular momentum (OAM) fiber. OAM+1 and OAM−1 modes carrying 20-Gbit/s quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK) signals are employed in the downlink and uplink transmission experiments. The observed mode crosstalks are less than −15.2 dB, and the full-duplex crosstalks are less than −12.7 dB. The measured full-duplex optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR) penalties at a bit-error rate (BER) of 2 × 10−3 are ~2.4 dB in the downlink transmission and ~2.3 dB in the uplink transmission. The obtained results show favorable full-duplex twisted lights multiplexing data transmission performance in a km-scale OAM fiber link.

Optical fibers for the transmission of orbital angular momentum modes

Abstract Orbital angular momentum (OAM) of light is a promising means for exploiting the spatial dimension of light to increase the capacity of optical fiber links. We summarize how OAM enables efficient mode multiplexing for optical communications, with emphasis on the design of OAM fibers.

Publishers Note

Orbital angular momentum (OAM) of light is a promising means for exploiting the spatial dimension of light to increase the capacity of optical fiber links. We summarize how OAM enables efficient mode multiplexing for optical communications, with emphasis on the design of OAM fibers.

All-fiber pre- and post-data exchange in km-scale fiber-based twisted lights multiplexing.

Twisting light with orbital angular momentum (OAM) provides an alternative way to facilitate space-division multiplexing (SDM). Both twisted light (OAM modes) multiplexing transmission and data processing functions would be highly desired in a robust OAM-assisted SDM (OAM-SDM) network. In this Letter, we propose and demonstrate flexible all-fiber pre- and post-data exchange functions in a fiber-based OAM-SDM network. OAM₊₁ and OAM_-1 modes carrying 5 Gbit/s four-level pulse amplitude modulation signals are multiplexed to transmit through a 1.1 km OAM fiber in the system. Two simple and controllable data exchange control units are placed at the front end and the back end of the OAM fiber to demonstrate pre- and post-data exchange functions between the OAM₊₁ and OAM_-1 modes. The measured optical signal-to-noise ratio penalties at a bit-error rate of 2×10^-3 (enhanced forward-error correction threshold) for pre- and post-data exchange operations are less than 3.2 dB with crosstalk. The OAM data exchange functions could potentially enhance the flexibility of data management at network nodes in OAM-SDM networks.

A New Type Circular Photonic Crystal Fiber for Orbital Angular Momentum Mode Transmission

We proposed a new circular photonic crystal fiber (C-PCF), which can support 14 orbital angular momentum (OAM) modes transmission, with the good features of wide bandwidth, low confinement loss, and all OAM modes at the same size. At 1.55 μm, the designed C-PCF has a very low confinement loss of 3.434 × 10 <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">-9</sup> dB/m for HE41 mode and a relatively low nonlinear coefficient of 3.979 W <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">-1</sup> km <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">-1</sup> for EH <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">31</sub> mode. The common bandwidth for the four orders of OAM modes is as large as 560 nm (about 1.25 μm-1.81 μm), which does cover all bands of optical fiber communication. Flat dispersion (a total dispersion variation of <;46.38 ps nm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">-1</sup> km <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">-1</sup> over a 750-nm bandwidth from 1.25 μm to 2 μm for TE <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">01</sub> mode) is another feature. With all these good features, the proposed C-PCF could be a well-promising OAM fiber for mode division multiplexing in high capacity fiber communication systems.