Mode division multiplexing in optical fibers

S. Berdague and P. Facq

Two modes have been launched into a conventional 10-m long multimode graded-index optical fiber using

spatial filtering techniques. The measured cross talk between the two modes in the baseband is -20 dB at the output end of the fiber. Modal multiplexing thus appears to be possible over short fiber lengths.

1.

Introduction

It is well known that optical fiber defects such as diameter fluctuations, microbending, and index profile
deviations are mainly responsible for the mode-coupling

Quasi single-mode excitation has been previously used for differential mode delay and differential mode attenuation measurements. The techniques used

phenomenon. The power carried by a single mode launched at the input end of the fiber is gradually transferred to other modes and then spreads to virtually
all propagating modes. This effect, however, seems to

consist in tilting a plane wave6 or offsetting a focused Gaussian beam 7 8 at the input end of a multimode fiber. Such techniques provide continuously varying selection of mode groups, but, except for the low-order modes, the

have been overestimated. Mode coupling in today's multimode fibers in fact appears to be quite small. The coupling length (the length over which mode mixing results in a steady-state distribution among the modes)
may exceed several kilometers. Mode coupling can Mode cou-

modal selectivity obtained is rather poor. The present paper reports the first implementation of the mode multiplexing principle on a highly multimoded graded-index optical fiber. Spatial filtering has

been used to excite and retrieve individual modes at the fiber ends. For a two-mode configuration, the optical
cross talk measured on a 10-m long fiber is -10 dB (-20

increase the modulation bandwidth whenever the information is carried by the optical power.

dB on the base-band detected electrical signal).

II. Mode Multiplexing Principle

pling then averages differences between groups delays of the propagating modes, and this results in a reduced rate of pulse spreading. Unfortunately, because some
power is also transferred to radiating modes, a loss is

of tubular modes3 4 whose field amplitude in cylindrical

The mode patterns launched into the fiber are those

suffered. An opposite technique to increase the fiber bandwidth is to minimize as much as possible the mode coupling to transmit separate signals over the various
modes, each mode being considered as an independent

coordinates r, X,z have the form

= /2f(r) exp(-j3z)[exp(jgo0) + exp(-j4o)], (1)

where fl is the propagation constant and f(r) is a peaked function having its maximum at r = rm. According to
ray theory, A,, can be represented by a couple of helical

channel. Monomode launching has already been realized in liquid-core fibersl and in step-index solid-core fibers.2
We have shown elsewhere that monomode propagation

is feasible without prohibitive mode mixing in multimode graded-index fibers whose length exceeds 100
M.3,5

rays with the same radius r and propagation constant / but opposite azimuthal numbers ,4and -,u. The light power in the mode pattern remains within an annular region of mean radius r of the core section (Fig. 1). To illustrate this field configuration let us look at
tubular modes in parabolic-shaped index-profile fibers.

The mode amplitude A, takes the form

,,(p~z)
=

exp(-p 2 /2) coswodexp(-j/z),

(2)

Both authors are with U.E.R. des Sciences, 123 rue Albert Thomas, 87060 Limoges Cedex, France: S. Berdagu6 is in the Laboratoire

d'Electronique, P. Facq in the Laboratoire d'Optique.

Received 24 November 1981. 0003-6935/82/111950-06$01.00/0. 1982 Optical Society of America. 1950 APPLIED OPTICS/ Vol. 21, No. 11 / 1 June 1982

where p = (rr,) \-V is a normalized radial coordinate, is the normalized spatial frequency. This is a special case (a = 0) of the more general modal field:
rc is the core radius, and V = korc2A
,,.(pkz) = ,, exp(-p 2 /2)L1(p 2 ) cos(Atk) exp(-jflz), (3)

where

LA(p2)E (a +p)!(-l)sp 2 s
s=0 (A + s)!(a - s)!s!

is the generalized Laguerre polynomial. Vt/,, is referred to in Ref. 9 as a Laguerre-Gauss mode of radial number

a. Figures 2 and 3 show, respectively, the normalized radial dependencef(P)/f..ax = (e/,4)/2pA exp(-p 2 /2) and the curve {4(p,o) = KAY ax,K being a constant. Here
K = 0.3, for a tubular mode of azimuthal order A = 8,

0
Fig. 1. Tubular-mode geometry:

III

r, core radius; r, tubular-mode

radius; f(r), radial dependence of the field amplitude.

showing that the light power is mainly concentrated in a ring consisting of 2A blobs of light where the phase [given by the term cos(Ao) in Eq. (2)] takes opposite values from one blob to the next. One can verify from Eq. (2) that the normalized radius Pm = \ of the tubular mode increases with the azimuthal order. The tubular-mode normalized thickness Ap = P2 - P1 is arbitrarily defined by the normalized radius values P1 and P2 between which the normalized radial dependence of the field exceeds 0.3.
This thickness remains a constant near Ap = 2.2 as A varies. Thus two tubular modes of azimuthal orders Al

and A2tend to separate spatially when ul and /12 are sufficiently different (v\-i2 > 2.2 for square law profiles). Figures 4 and 5 show an example of normalized radial dependence and an amplitude level curve at K = 0.4 for the pair of tubular modes t1t= 2 and A2 =
12.
a. -~~~~~~~~~1 =8

2 NORMALIZED

4 RADIUS
P

Fig. 2. Normalized radial dependence f(P)/fmax = (el)/2, exp(-p 2 /2) of a Gaussian tubular mode with azimuthal number,4 =
8. p is the normalized variable r/lo;to = r/TI-V, where to is the le power radius of the fundamental Gaussian mode ( = 0).
NORMALIZED RADIUS p

Fig. 4. Normalized radial dependence for two Gaussian tubular

modes of azimuthal orders A = 2 and
A2

12.

Fig. 3.

Contour line I'T(p'k) I = 0.34m xof a Gaussian tubular mode with azimuthal number = 8.

Fig. 5.

Equal level lines I'i(IP ) I = 0.4pm"a for a pair of Gaussian tubular modes of azimuthal numbers /11 = 2 and 2 = 12. 1 June 1982 / Vol. 21, No. 11 / APPLIED OPTICS 1951

~ILWILL1UW~

po,
b c

a
Fig. 6.

Set of diaphragms performing the mode selection at the fiber ends: (a) selection of the inner mode; (b) selection of the outer mode; (c) no mode selection.

As one can see in Fig. 4 the radial dependence of the

various tubular modes slightly overlaps, and the mode discrimination technique used inevitably causes some cross talk between the channels when an attempt is made to transmit independent signals over two different modes. Obviously these imperfections of the input mode filter and the mode mixing in the fiber combine to aggravate the cross talk. The cross talk Cij between two channels, namely, channels i and j, is defined as
Cij = 10 loglo p'*7i
(4)

ij e 10,11,ij,
Fig. 7. Hole contour geometry of the two tubular-mode input filters. Inner mode l = 2; outer mode P2 = 12. For the ease of mechanical implementation the contour of the P2 = 12 mode holes departs slightly from the ideal contour = K Kma,'P)I

where Pkj (primed, two subscripts) denotes the fractional power of signal k received at the output of channel 1. Pk (unprimed, one subscript) denotes the total power of signal k launched at the input of channel k.
Ill. Input-Mode Filter

Because tubular modes of sufficiently different azimuthal orders are spatially separated, mode discrimination can be effected by simple masking techniques at

the output end of the fiber (Fig. 6). The inner tubular
mode (of order Al) can be retrieved through a circular

The tubular-mode filter used in the experiment is similar to the one described in Ref. 4, but it has been modified to produce two radially separated tubular modes. Let us briefly sum up the main features of this device. The filter consists of an opaque plate pierced with a double ring of holes whose contours follow the
level curves

| ,,l(P,0)

KQ/4lIc and

aperture of normalized radius p0. The outer mode (of order 112)is retrieved by the complementary screen. A property of the Laguerre-Gauss modes y,,, is that the free-space farfield (Fourier transform of 1/JI, in rectangular coordinates) is given by 1k,, itself, except
for a multiplicative constant and a scale factor on p.

(P,4)

I=

as shown in Fig. 7, where A1 = 2, /12 = 12, and K = 0.4.

The perforated plate is covered by two glass plates to

obtain 2(A1l A2) holes. The filter is set in a collimated +

beam of monochromatic light. Thus the amplitude of the light field 4'js(po) + '/P,2 (p,0)is approximated in a binary manner by a constant value into the holes and
zero outside. The sign change of the cos(11k) function

The masking technique described above can thus be used either in the near field or far field in the case of fibers whose profile does not depart too much from a parabolic one.
1952 APPLIED OPTICS/ Vol. 21, No. 11 / 1 June 1982

in Eq. (2) is achieved by slightly lowering the air pressure in the odd cavities of a same ring. The resulting air-index variation provides a 7 phase shift between

01

02

M2

A set of three diaphragms (Fig. 6) allows the

launching of either a monomode (1i or 112) or a bimode

Fiber

~~~~~~~~~~~
M3 0

(ul and 2) configuration. At the output end of the fiber a similar set of diaphragms operates the mode discrimination on the near-field pattern (after a 700X magnification by a pair of microscope objectives M 3 ,M4 ). The optical power emerging from the discriminator filter falls on photodetector D. The cross talk measurements are made according to the formulas
(P 1 P' 2 C12 C12= loglo = 10 091 0 P1 ~1P i 2 (7) (8)

Fig. 8.

Experimental arrangement:

microscope objectives;H, pinhole; 01,02,03, objectives; F, spatialmode filter; D1,D2 , input and output diaphragms; D, photodiode; and M 3 ,M 4 , couple of microscope objectives to obtain X700

L, laser; P, polarizer; M 1 ,M 2 ,

magnification.

rays traveling through holes of opposite parity.

The air

pressure variation can-beeasily adjusted until the center of the far-field diffraction pattern is dark. A parameter of importance is the modal purity of the injection. The modal purity for a one-tubular-mode
filter is defined as the ratio of the power launched in the fiber on that mode by the total power on guided modes.

Surprisingly this modal purity is very good for the type

of filtering described in spite of the crude approximation

made on the field amplitude. After optimization of the relative amplitude level K corresponding to the holes contours, the modal purity can reach the values 0.91for
A = 2 and 0.96 for
12
=

12. The assumption previously

given in Ref. 3 of a modal purity taking the optimum

value 0.84 for all values of A was pessimistic. The modal purity of interest here can be interpreted as a selectivity coefficient. It must be distinguished from the coupling

Fig. 9. Near-field pattern at the input end of the fiber. The diameter of the outer ring is -20 pm (core diam, 50 m). Table1. Launching FilterandDiscrimination Combinations Filter Leading to Cross TalkCoefficients

unguided power. 5
IV.

efficiency coefficient currently used in the In Ref. 3 the power ratio was taken over the total power impinging on the fiber, which includes both guided and
Experimental Set-up and Operation

literature. 9

Input launching filter

A1
P1

Output discrimination filter

P1

Optical power on the photodetector

P1 Pl pi + P1 P2 P2 P22 + P12

and
A1 P1

The experimental arrangement (Fig. 8) is very similar

Al and
P2

to the one described in Ref. 4 for monomode propagation in a graded-index multimode optical fiber. The
bimode input filter is illuminated with a monochromatic

Al and

P2

A1 and 2 P2
2 P2

plane wave (X = 633 nm from a He-Ne laser). After appropriate size reduction by the microscope objective M2 , the far field of the filter is launched into the fiber. Figure 9 shows a photograph of the field observed at the focal plane of objective 02. The size of the bimode pattern compared with that of the core of the fiber depends on the index profile n(r). The radius
rm of a tubular mode is a root of equation 2kr 2 where ko = [(27r)/Xo]n(O)is the wave vector on axis. 2 For power law profiles n(r) = n(O) [1 - A(r/rc) K] , Eq.
d [ dr [ n(r) n(0) 1p, 1
2

In these equations, the input signal powersPk of Eq. (4) have been replaced by the output signal powers Pk flowing through the entire core section. Table I gives the input and output mode filter combinations leading to Pk and Pl values.
V. Experimental Measurements and Results

Figure 10 shows the observed near-field power patterns at the output end of a 10-m long fiber on the mode discrimination filter. The fiber used in the experiment
is a graded-index CVD fiber withl K 0.5 with a core radius r = 25 m and normalized frequency V = 70 at

(5) leads to the unique solution

2 rm = r (p/V)h/(K+1)K-l/( K+2).

(6)

the He-Ne laser wavelength X= 633 nm. This loosely jacketed fiber is wound on a 32-cm diam drum.
1 June 1982 / Vol. 21, No. 11 / APPLIED OPTICS 1953

The near-field pattern at the output face of the fiber

is sensitive to microbending. Consequently, we observe

some dispersion of cross talk measurements when we move the fiber on the drum. The series of cross talk measurements given in Table II correspond to various fiber settings and adjustments of the launching mode filter. Table III summarizes the statistics of these measurements. We notice the dissymetrical behavior of the two channels with respect to cross talk. The 1l channel (inner channel) exhibits better immunity against the neighboring channel. This lack of symmetry is caused on the one hand by the launching filter imperfections and on the other hand by the nature of the discrimination technique used at the output. These two causes both join to favor the inner channel, as discussed below.

(a)

To account for the channel asymmetry at the input, let us suppose that one tries to excite only the tubular mode 1l (radius rm). Due to the approximation of the mode amplitude in the filter design, some other propagating modes are excited as well. One can show that these parasitic modes are radial-azimuthal harmonics of il (Laguerre-Gauss modes 41k^,,,) and that their spatial extent in the core mainly concerns the domain r > rm devoted to the outer channel (mode 112). On the contrary, the k t k2, harmonics generated with 112 tubular-mode excitation have no significant extent in the domain r < rm. We briefly discuss now the second cause of asymmetry.
Table II. Measurementof CrossTalk Coefficientsfor Various Positions of the Fiber on the Drum and Adjustmentsof the LaunchingMode Filter: l
-2;

2= 12; X=633 nm C 12 (dB)

C 21(dB)

-11 -7.8

-7

-4.1 -6.5

(b)

-10

-7.4 -5.8 -6.7 -6.3 -8.1 -7.8 -8.9 -9.6

-6

-5.3 -6.1 -5.8 -6.3 -5 -6 -6.2 -6

-6

Table 1II. C Mean Value of C1 and a Standard Deviation of Table II Measurements

C 21 (dB)

C1 2(dB)

Cij
af

-8
1.5

-5.8
0.6

Best value

-11

-6.5

Fig. 10.

Near-field patterns observable at output end of a 10-m fiber

(C) 1954 APPLIED OPTICS/ Vol. 21, No. 11 / 1 June 1982

under the followinginjection conditions: (a) inner tubular mode A1 = 2 at input; (b) outer tubular modeP2 = 12at input; (c)both P1 and P2 at input.

VI.

Calculation of the Mode Overlap Cross Talk

We calculate here the cross talk due to tubular-mode radial overlapping. Any launching filter imperfection
and mode coupling in the fiber are neglected here. For

improvement. The selectivity of the mode discrimination filter at the fiber output could also be increased by employingother techniques, for example, lateral exit
1 from tapered fiber end and periodic bends of the fiber.

the sake of simplicity, the assumption of an unbounded quadratic profile is made. The useful signal power collected at the output of channel i is proportional to
p,=

To obtain a reduction in mode coupling, specially designed optical fibers must be manufactured with the followingfeatures:
(1) moderate V number;

(2) increased outer fiber radius for improved stiffness; (3) special profiles, such as undulating profiles, that

fJ

[''l

ds,

(9)

while the parasitic signal power on the same channel is

given by

p,=

Sif IJ 2 ds,
i /- . (10)

iij G 0,1}

make some tubular modes more resistant to mode conversion 1 ; (4) absence of short scale radial perturbation (VAD fibers seem to be immune of such deviations); (5) vibration-free fiber drawing.
Because single-mode propagation in multimode fibers has already been achieved over 130-m long sections, 5 it

01 and 02 are the domains p < po and p > p, respectively, p0 being the normalized radius of the central blocking mask. The total output power on signal i is
P.
f
X

lI

ds

ktYi!

i = 1,2.

(11)

These power values obey the relations

P'i + P =P.
iij 10,1} i /- . (12)

Note that the assumption of incoherence has been made

between mode y1 and mode 2The other integrals [Eqs. (9) and (10)] must be evaluated by numerical techniques. With = 2, 2 = 12, and with p = 2.506corresponding to the experiment, we obtain from Eqs. (7) and (8)
C2 1 = -18.8 dB, C1 2 = -12.9 dB. (13) (14)

seems likely that the two-mode propagation described in the present paper can be extended to significantly larger fiber lengths than the 10 m reported. Note that mode division multiplexing is compatible with other multiplexing techniques, namely, time division and wavelength division multiplexing. The authors express their thanks to J. Arnaud for the idea for this work and guidance and to F. de Fornel for her help in the experiments. We also thank the Fort Cie for providing the fibers. Both authors also hold appointments with CNRS
ERA 535.
References
1. W. A. Gambling, D. N. Payne, and H. Matsumura, Electron. Lett. 9, 412 (1973).

2. N. S. Kapany, J. J. Burke, and T. Sawatari, J. Opt. Soc. Am.60,

1178 (1970).

3. P. Facq, P. Fournet, and J. Arnaud, Electron. Lett. 16, 648

(1980).

These values exhibit a clear asymmetry between the two channels. Note that some proper adjustment of po
allows equalization of the two cross talk coefficients. If p = 2.65 we obtain C21 = C 12 = -15 dB.
VIl. Conclusion

4. P. Facq and J. Arnaud, "Tubular Mode Excitation in GradedIndex Multimode Fibres," in Proceedings, Photon 80, Paris, Oct. 21-23 1980 (Quartz et Silice, Pithiviers, France, 1981).

5. P. Facq et al., unpublished work.

6. D. B. Keck, Appl. Opt. 13, 1882 (1974). 7. R. Olshansky and S. M. Oaks, Appl. Opt. 17, 1830 (1978).

Mode division multiplexing appears to be feasible over short distances. To operate with greater fiber lengths one must reduce mode coupling. We should approximate better the mode amplitude at the spatial filter. It would be desirable also to take into account the polarization. In the experiment, the polarization was linear. A better fitting of filter and mode polarization at the input could result in some modal purity

8. L. Jeunhomme and P. Lamouler, Opt. Quantum Electron. 12,57

(1980).

9. J. A. Arnaud, Beam and Fiber Optics (Academic, New York,

1976), pp. 104-106.

10. For power-law index profiles with 0.5 < K < + , the mode filter design is almost independent of the K value. Only the tubular
mode mean radius is significantly affected by the profile. 11. F. de Fornel and P. Facq, in Colloque Monomode 80, Limoges, June 1980.

1 June 1982

Vol. 21, No. 11 / APPLIED OPTICS

1955