• A Hybrid Conference – In-Person and Virtual Presentations
  • Technical Conference:  24 – 28 March 2024
  • Exhibition: 26 – 28 March 2024
  • San Diego Convention Center, San Diego, California, USA

Short Courses

SC459 - Multimode Photonic Devices, Characterization and Applications

Sunday, 24 March
09:00 - 12:00 (Pacific Time (US & Canada), UTC - 08:00)

Short Course Level: Advanced Beginner

Instructor:

Nicolas Fontaine, Nokia Bell Labs, USA

Short Course Description:

This course is an introduction into multimode devices that control, generate, amplify and manipulate spatial modes. Multimode components are used in many diverse fields including imaging, astronomy, and space-division multiplexing (SDM) communications. These devices include lossless mode multiplexers, mode generators based on spatial light modulators, and communication devices such as multimode wavelength selective switches and optical amplifiers.

Multimode devices and fibers can be described by a transfer matrix relating the N input modes to the M output modes. Measurement of these transfer matrices are much more challenging than characterizing single mode fiber devices. The course will show how to use swept-wavelength interferometery, and digital holography techniques to measure these transfer matrices and how to use Eigen-analysis of the transfer matrix to extract the mode dependent loss (MDL), mode averaged insertion loss, and differential group delay (DGD).

The course will cover a few components in detail:  design and scalability of photonic lantern and multi-plane light conversion mode multiplexers, mode excitation using spatial light modulators, multimode wavelength selective switches, optical pumping and mode dependent gain minimization techniques for multimode optical fiber amplifiers. Note that this is a companion course to SC408, which will cover transmission aspects of SDM systems.

Short Course Benefits:

This course should enable you to:

  • Basic modal and mode coupling properties of multimode and multicore fibers and how these properties affect device design.

  • Applications of multimode technology outside of telecommunications, e.g., endoscopy, astronomy, RF photonics, fiber laser, and imaging.

  • Design and fabrication of photonic lantern spatial multiplexers in 3D waveguide, or all fiber technology.

  • Design of multi-plane light conversion mode multiplexers.

  • Techniques to excite modes using spatial light phase modulators.

  • Swept wavelength interferometry for characterization of the transfer matrices of SDM systems.

  • Digital holography for characterization of the transfer matrices of individual devices.

  • Multimode wavelength selective switches.

  • Introduction to multimode and multicore amplifiers.

Short Course Audience:

This course is intended for engineers, scientists, managers, technicians and students who want to learn about components used in space-division multiplexing systems.

Basic knowledge of fiber-optics communication and modal properties of waveguide is assumed. By the end of the course, the audience will know how to design several multimode devices such as mode multiplexers, wavelength selective switches, and amplifiers.

 

Instructor Biography:

Nicolas K. Fontaine is currently a Distinguished Member of the Technical Staff at Nokia Bell Labs. His main research interests are in space-division multiplexed transmission systems and components, wavelength selective switches and crossconnects, and spectral slice arbitrary waveform synthesis and measurement.