Binary spatial amplitude modulation of continuous transverse modal electric field using a single lens for mode selectivity in multimode fiber

Abstract

The demand for portable real-time optical applications such as medical optical sensors and optical transceivers instigate the need for compact optical designs. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate a new, compact design for binary spatial amplitude modulation in a mode-selective transmitter in a multimode fiber, adapted from microscopy. Results show that it is possible to retrieve the original continuous-amplitude transverse modal electric field from the binary amplitude-modulated image using a single lens. The retrieved image is in good agreement with the original image.

Keywords:

• spatial amplitude modulation
• mode selectivity
• dispersion mitigation
• bandwidth enhancement
• spatial light modulator

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Dr Dominic O’Brien, Dr Frank Payne, Dr Martin Booth and Grahame Faulkner at the University of Oxford for their valuable advice and important feedback.