http://arxiv.org/abs/2004.04035
We present a new way to mitigate focal-ratio degradation (FRD) when using optical fibers to transport multimode light. Our approach exploits a custom multicore fiber (MCF) with six dissimilar cores that are single mode at ~1550 nm wavelength and minimally coupled over 7 m. We fabricated adiabatic mode-selective photonic lanterns (PLs) at each end of the MCF to create a fiber link with multimode ports, the PLs coupling each spatial mode of the multimode ports to a specific core of the MCF and vice versa. The PL-MCF-PL link exhibits superior FRD behavior compared to a conventional multimode fiber that also supports 6 modes, because it inhibits the transfer of light from lower-order modes to higher-order modes. These results open up a potentially powerful new approach to mitigate FRD in multimode fiber links, with particular applications in astronomical instruments.
A. Benoît, S. Yerolatsitis, K. Harrington, et. al.
Thu, 9 Apr 20
41/54
Comments: 9 pages, 12 figures
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