Wavelength switchable mode-locked fiber laser with a few-mode fiber filter

We have proposed and constructed a few-mode fiber(FMF)-based comb filter realized by dislocation splicing a fewmode long-period fiber grating(FM-LPFG) with a single-mode fiber(SMF). From an all-fiber laser with a FMF-based comb filter, the generation of switchable single-, dual-, triple-, and quadruple-wavelength continuous light has been achieved.Moreover, wavelength switchable mode-locked pulses have been obtained with the increased pump power. In the experiment, the output wavelength of the mode-locked fiber laser was changed from 1567.72 nm to 1571.04 nm, while the signal-to-noise(SNR) ratio was maintained above 61 d B. The switchable multiwavelength continuous wave(CW) and mode-locked all-fiber lasers have potentially important applications for fiber sensing, wavelength-division multiplexing(WDM) and signal processing.

Machine Learning-based Inverse Model for Few-Mode Fiber Designs

The medium for next-generation communication is considered as fiber for fast,secure communication and switching capability.Mode division and space division multiplexing provide an excellent switching capability with high data transmission rate.In this work,the authors have approached an inverse modeling technique using regression-based machine learning to design a weakly coupled few-mode fiber for facilitating mode division multiplexing.The technique is adapted to predict the accurate profile parameters for the proposed few-mode fiber to obtain the maximum number of modes.It is for a three-ring-core few-mode fiber for guiding five,ten,fifteen,and twenty modes.Three types of regression models namely ordinary least-square linear multi-output regression,k-nearest neighbors of multi-output regression,and ID3 algorithm-based decision trees for multi-output regression are used for predicting the multiple profile parameters.It is observed that the ID3-based decision tree for multioutput regression is the robust,highly-accurate machine learning model for fast modeling of FMFs.The proposed fiber claims to be an efficient candidate for the next-generation 5G and 6G backhaul networks using mode division multiplexing.

Modeling of Few-Mode Multi-Core Optical Fiber Channe Based on Non-Uniform Mode Field Distribution

In this paper, the influencing factors that affect few-mode and multi core optical fiber channel are analyzed in a comprehensive way. The theoretical modeling and computer simulation of the information channel are carried out and then the modeling scheme of few-mode multicore optical fiber channel based on non-uniform mode field distribution is put forward. The proposed modeling scheme can not only exponentially increases the system capacity through fewmode multi-core optical fiber channel, but has better transmission performance compared to the channel of the same type to the uniform channel revealing from the simulation results.

Fast mode decomposition for few-mode fiber based on lightweight neural network

In this paper,we present a fast mode decomposition method for few-mode fibers,utilizing a lightweight neural network called MobileNetV3-Light.This method can quickly and accurately predict the amplitude and phase information of different modes,enabling us to fully characterize the optical field without the need for expensive experimental equipment.We train the MobileNetV3-Light using simulated near-field optical field maps,and evaluate its performance using both simulated and reconstructed near-field optical field maps.To validate the effectiveness of this method,we conduct mode decomposition experiments on a few-mode fiber supporting six linear polarization(LP)modes(LP01,LP11e,LP11o,LP21e,LP21o,LP02).The results demonstrate a remarkable average correlation of 0.9995 between our simulated and reconstructed near-field lightfield maps.And the mode decomposition speed is about 6 ms per frame,indicating its powerful real-time processing capability.In addition,the proposed network model is compact,with a size of only 6.5 MB,making it well suited for deployment on portable mobile devices.

Speckle backpropagation for compensation of nonlinear effects in few-mode optical fibers

We propose an alternative approach to compensation of intermodal interactions in few-mode optical fibers by means of digital backpropagation.Instead of solving the inverse generalized multimode nonlinear Schr?dinger equation,we accomplish backpropagation of the multimode signals with help of their near-field intensity distributions captured by a camera.We demonstrate that this task can successfully be handled by a deep neural network and provide a proof of concept by training an autoencoder for backpropagation of six linearly polarized[LP]modes of a step-index fiber.

Multimode oscillation Q-switched erbium-doped fiber laser with a few-mode fiber cavity

We propose and demonstrate experimentally a multimode oscillation Q-switched erbium-doped fiber laser with a few-mode fiber cavity. The different coupling processes of reflection peaks of fiber Bragg gratings(FBGs) which act as cavity mirrors allow the different oscillating states. We obtain microsecond light pulse output states whose oscillation and output beams have different mode compositions, including high order mode. Such a structure enables the high order mode oscillation in the whole cavity with an all-fiber structure, which has potential applications in mode-division multiplexed systems and research of multimode nonlinear effect.

Fiber laser twist sensor with hybrid few-mode tilted Bragg grating and few-mode long period grating

A twist sensor with hybrid few-mode tilted fiber Bragg grating(FM-TFBG) and few-mode long period grating(FM-LPG) in fiber laser cavity is demonstrated. The FM-LPG is utilized to excite LP11 core mode. The FM-TFBG is used for sensing. The transverse modes at 1 553.9 nm and 1 550.5 nm are LP01 and LP21 core modes, respectively, which are coupled from forward-propagating LP11 core mode. These two excitation wavelengths have opposite variation tendencies, which participate in sensing. The twist sensitivity of 0.16 dB/° from-40° to 40° is achieved. The proposed sensor has potentially used for structure monitoring in many areas.

Few-mode fibre-optic microwave photonic links

The fibre-optic microwave photonic link has become one of the basic building blocks for microwave photonics.Increasing the optical power at the receiver is the best way to improve all link performance metrics including gain,noise figure and dynamic range.Even though lasers can produce and photodetectors can receive optical powers on the order of a Watt or more,the power-handling capability of optical fibres is orders-of-magnitude lower.In this paper,we propose and demonstrate the use of few-mode fibres to bridge this power-handling gap,exploiting their unique features of small acousto-optic effective area,large effective areas of optical modes,as well as orthogonality and walk-off among spatial modes.Using specially designed few-mode fibres,we demonstrate order-of-magnitude improvements in link performances for single-channel and multiplexed transmission.This work represents the first step in few-mode microwave photonics.The spatial degrees of freedom can also offer other functionalities such as large,tunable delays based on modal dispersion and wavelength-independent lossless signal combining,which are indispensable in microwave photonics.

Influence of Internal Stresses in Few-Mode Fiber on the Thermal Characteristics of Regenerated Gratings

The pre-treatment of few-mode fibers (FMFs) has been successfully done with CO2 laser The wavelength difference, AA between the two resonant wavelengths in the few-mode fiber Bragg grating (FMFBG) varies with temperature increment during the annealing process. The results show that the treated fibers with lower stresses have lower thermal sensitivity in △λ than that of non-treated fiber. However, the treated fibers produce FMFBGs with better thermal durability and regeneration ratio. It is conceived that the presence of those stresses in the pristine fiber is responsible for the high thermal sensitivity in △λ. The thennal relaxation of stresses and structural rearrangement during the thennal annealing process are responsible for the degradation of the strength and resilience of the regenerated grating.

Applications of weakly-coupled few-mode fibers[Invited]

Space-division multiplexing(SDM)has attracted significant attention in recent years because larger transmission capacity is enabled by more degrees of freedom(DOFs)in few-mode fibers(FMFs)compared with singlemode fibers(SMFs).To transmit independent information on spatial modes without or with minor digital signal processing(DSP),weakly-coupled FMFs are preferred in various applications.Several cases with different use of spatial DOFs in weakly-coupled FMFs are demonstrated in this work,including single-mode or mode-groupmultiplexed transmission,and spatial DOFs combined with time or frequency DOF to improve the system performance.

All-fiber linear polarization and orbital angular momentum modes amplifier based on few-mode erbium-doped fiber and long period fiber grating

A few-mode erbium-doped fiber（FM-EDF） is fabricated using modified chemical vapor deposition in combination with liquid solution. The core and cladding diameters of the fiber are approximately 19.44 and 124.12 μm,respectively. The refractive index difference is 0.98%, numerical aperture（NA） is 0.17, and normalized cut-off frequency at 1550 nm is 6.81. Therefore, it is a five-mode fiber, and can be used as a higher-order mode gain medium. Furthermore, a long period fiber grating（LPFG） is fabricated, which can convert LP〈01 mode to LP11 mode, and its conversion efficiency is up to 99%. The first-order orbital angular momentum（OAM） is also generated by combining the LPFG and polarization controller（PC）. Then, an all-fiber amplification system based on the FM-EDF and LPFG, for LP11 mode and first-order OAM beams, is built up. Its on-off gain of the LP11 mode beam is 37.2 d B at 1521.2 nm. The variation, whose transverse mode field intensity of first-order OAM is increased with the increase of pumping power, is obvious. These show that both the LP11 mode and first-order OAM beams are amplified in the all-fiber amplification system. This is a novel all-fiber amplification scheme,which can be used in the optical communication fields.

A novel three-ring-core few-mode fiber with large effective area and low nonlinear coefficient

A novel three-ring-core few-mode fiber with large effective area and low nonlinear coefficient is proposed in this paper. The fiber characteristics based on the full-vector finite element method(FEM) with perfect matched layer boundary conditions show that four supermodes with large effective area, low nonlinear coefficient and low differential mode group delay(DMGD) are achieved. With the increase of input wavelength, the effective areas of three-ring-core few-mode fiber are increased, and the nonlinear coefficients are decreased. The bending losses are increased with the increase of input wavelength, and are decreased with the increase of bending radius. Moreover, the proposed fiber performs a nonlinear coefficient and DMGD flattened profile at a large wavelength range.

Few-mode vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers for space-division multiplexing

In order to choose the proper radius of oxide aperture for few-mode vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers （VCSELs）, the influences of oxide aperture size on the multi-transverse-mode behaviors are investigated in detail. By establishing the effective refractive index model to simulate VCSELs with different radii of oxide apertures, the wavelength and corresponding order of different modes are obtained. VCSELs with three kinds of oxide apertures are manufactured. Then the multi-transverse-mode spectra and near-field are measured. It is found that when the radius is between 1.5 and 4.5μm, few-mode VCSELs can be implemented. The 2.5μm VCSEL manufactured in this paper only emits LP01 mode and LP21 mode. Since the space distance between the two modes is 2μm, it is expected to realize direct-modulation few-mode VCSELs by channel etching or ion implantation between the two modes.

Efficient silicon integrated four-mode edge coupler for few-mode fiber coupling

Here,we designed a broadband,low loss,compact,and fabrication-tolerant silicon-based four-mode edge coupler,composed of a 1×3 adiabatic mode-evolution counter-taper splitter and a triple-tip inverse taper.Based on mode conversion and power splitting,the proposed structure can simultaneously realize efficient mode coupling from TE_(0),TM_(0),TE_(1),and TM_(1) modes of multimode silicon waveguides to linearly polarized(LP),LP^(01,x),LP_(01,y),LP_(11a,x),and LP_(11a,y),modes in the few-mode fiber.To the best of our knowledge,we proposed the first scheme of four LP modes coupling,which is fully compatible with standard fabrication process.The 3D finite-difference time-domain simulation results show that the on-chip conversion losses of the four modes remain lower than 0.62 dB over the 200 nm wavelength range,and total coupling losses are 4.1 dB,5.1 dB,2.1 dB,and 2.9 dB for TE_(0)-to-LP_(01,x),TM_(0)-to-LP_(01,y),TE_(1)-to-LP_(11a,x),and TM_(1)-to-LP_(11a,y),respectively.Good fabrication tolerance and relaxed critical dimensions make the four-mode edge coupler compatible with standard fabrication process of commercial silicon photonic foundries.

Design and optimization of weakly-coupled few-mode fiber with low nonlinearity

By investigating the influence of the difference of refractive index between core and cladding （nco - ncl）, normalized frequency （V） and core radius （α） on both the intramodal and intermodal nonlinear coefficients （NCs） respectively, we design a novel weakly-coupled four-mode fiber with low nonlinearity. In general, under the premise of ensuring the low NCs between two non-degenerate modes, this design can reduce the intermodal NCs （〈 0.5 W-l·km^-1） between two degenerate modes and optimizes the parameters of differential group delays （DGDs） and chromatic dispersion. The optimized few mode fiber （FMF） is eligible for transmission and mode de-multiplexing in the receiver.

Tunable self-seeded multi-wavelength Brillouin-erbium fiber laser based on few-mode fiber filter

A tunable self-seeded multi-wavelength Brillouin-erbium fiber laser(BEFL) is proposed and demonstrated based on a few-mode fiber filter(FMFF) with varying temperature. The FMFF configuration is a section of uncoated few-mode fiber(FMF) sandwiched between two up-tapers. As the temperature varies from 25 °C to 125 °C, the transmission spectrum of FMFF moves towards the longer wavelength. The self-excited Brillouin pump is internally achieved by cascaded stimulated Brillouin scattering(SBS) in the single mode fiber(SMF). Then employing the FMFF temperature variation characteristics in the ring cavity fiber laser, the multi-wavelength of the output laser can be tuned, and the tunable range is about 8.0 nm. The generation of up to 15 Brillouin Stokes wavelengths with 16 d B optical signal-to-noise ratio(OSNR) is realized.

InP-based directly modulated monolithic integrated few-mode transmitter

A monolithic integrated few-mode transmitter comprising of two directly modulated distributed feedback lasers and a multimode-interference-coupler-based mode converter-multiplexer with 66% mode conversion efficiency was designed and demonstrated. A fundamental TE0 mode and a first-order TE1 mode were successfully generated from the transmitter, with the output power of 4 and 5.5 mW at a pump current of around 150 mA, respectively,at the common output port. The small signal modulation bandwidth of the TE0 and TE1 channels reached 17.4 and 14.7 GHz, respectively. Error-free 2 × 10-Gbit∕s direct modulation of the two-mode transmitter was demonstrated, with a power penalty of 4.3 dB between the TE0 mode and the TE1 mode at the bit error rate of 1 × 10^(-9).

InP-based monolithically integrated few-mode devices

Mode-division multiplexing（MDM） has become an increasingly important technology to further increase the transmission capacity of both optical-fiber-based communication networks, data centers and waveguidebased on-chip optical interconnects. Mode manipulation devices are indispensable in MDM system and have been widely studied in fiber, planar lightwave circuits, and silicon and InP based platforms. InP-based integration technology provides the easiest accessibility to bring together the functions of laser sources, modulators, and mode manipulation devices into a single chip, making it a promising solution for fully integrated few-mode transmitters in the MDM system. This paper reviews the recent progress in InP-based mode manipulation devices, including the few-mode converters, multiplexers, demultiplexers, and transmitters. The working principle, structures, and performance of InP-based few-mode devices are discussed.

三模掺铒光纤放大器仿真设计及实验研究

少模光纤放大技术是确保模分复用光纤通信系统远距离传输的关键技术,其增益、噪声系数及模式间增益差直接影响通信性能。为设计可用于模分复用的高增益、低噪声系数三模掺铒光纤放大器,建立少模掺铒光纤放大器理论模型,仿真设计其各项参数,之后结合实验结果进行参数优化,实现小信号增益大于30 dB,噪声系数小于6 dB,模式间增益差小于2 dB,并且各模式信号光在三模掺铒光纤放大器中稳定传输放大,光束轮廓无明显畸变。所设计的三模掺铒光纤放大器为进一步模分复用通信实验研究打下了基础。

基于对称双环嵌套管的低损耗弱耦合六模空芯负曲率光纤

本文设计了一种具有对称双环嵌套管结构的新型低损耗少模空芯负曲率光纤,该光纤支持LP_(01),LP_(11),LP_(21),LP_(02),LP_(31a),LP_(31b)共6种纤芯模式.所设计的光纤以SiO(_2)作为基底材料,采用特殊的对称双环嵌套结构将包层区域进行划分,能够有效地减小纤芯模式与包层模式的耦合.使用有限元法对该少模空芯负曲率光纤的结构参数进行优化,并分析了纤芯各个模式的限制损耗和弯曲损耗.仿真结果表明,所提出的少模空芯负曲率光纤能够同时支持弱耦合的6种纤芯模式独立传输(相邻模式间的有效折射率差均大于10~(–4),有效地避免了纤芯内模式间的耦合).在400 nm带宽(1.23—1.63μm,覆盖O,E,S,C,L波段)范围内,纤芯中的6个模式均保持低损耗稳定传输.各模式限制损耗在1.4μm处达到最低,其中基模LP_(01)模式的限制损耗最低,为4.3×10^(–7)d B/m.此外,当弯曲半径为7 cm时,各模式在一定工作波长范围内均保持低弯曲损耗传输.公差分析表明,当结构参数偏移±1%时,该少模空芯负曲率光纤仍然可以保持低损耗弱耦合的传输特性.