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Spatial beam self-cleaning in multimode fibres

Nature Photonics volume 11, pages 237–241 (2017)Cite this article

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Abstract

Multimode optical fibres are enjoying renewed attention, boosted by the urgent need to overcome the current capacity crunch of single-mode fibre (SMF) systems and by recent advances in multimode complex nonlinear optics1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13. In this work, we demonstrate that standard multimode fibres (MMFs) can be used as ultrafast all-optical tools for the transverse beam manipulation of high-power laser pulses. Our experimental data show that the Kerr effect in a graded-index (GRIN) MMF is the driving mechanism that overcomes speckle distortions, and leads to a counterintuitive effect that results in a spatially clean output beam robust against fibre bending. Our observations demonstrate that nonlinear beam reshaping into the fundamental mode of a MMF can be achieved even in the absence of a dissipative process such as stimulated scattering (Raman or Brillouin)14,15.

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Figure 1: Experimental nonlinear dynamics of beam self-cleaning in a GRIN MMF.
Figure 2: Experimental analysis of temporal and spatial coherence of beam self-cleaning in a GRIN MMF.
Figure 3: Brightness enhancement and statistical analysis of beam self-cleaning in a GRIN MMF.
Figure 4: Experimental cut-back analysis of beam propagation in a GRIN MMF.
Figure 5: Numerical results of beam propagation in a GRIN MMF.

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Acknowledgements

K.K., A.T., B.M.S., M.F., A.B. and V.C. acknowledge the financial support provided by Bpifrance OSEO (Industrial Strategic Innovation Programme) and Horiba Médical (Dat@diag no. I1112018W), by Région Limousin (C409-SPARC) and ANR Labex SIGMA-LIM. S.W. acknowledges support by the Italian Ministry of University and Research (MIUR) (grants 2012BFNWZ2 and 2015KEZNYM), the European Community via the Horizon 2020 CARDIALLY project and the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation (14.Y26.31.0017). G.M. acknowledges support from the iXcore research foundation, Photcom Région Bourgogne and ANR Labex Action. The authors thank F. Wise, L. Wright, Z. Liu and A. Picozzi for valuable discussions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Université de Limoges, XLIM, UMR CNRS 7252, 123 Avenue A. Thomas, Limoges, 87060, France

    K. Krupa, A. Tonello, B. M. Shalaby, M. Fabert, A. Barthélémy & V. Couderc

  2. Université de Bourgogne Franche-Comté, ICB, UMR CNRS 6303, 9 Avenue A. Savary, Dijon, 21078, France

    K. Krupa & G. Millot

  3. Physics Department, Faculty of Science, Tanta University, Tanta, 31527, Egypt

    B. M. Shalaby

  4. Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell'Informazione, Università di Brescia, and INO-CNR, via Branze 38, Brescia, 25123, Italy

    S. Wabnitz

  5. Novosibirsk State University, Novosibirsk 630090, 1 Pirogova str., Russia

    S. Wabnitz

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  1. K. Krupa
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Contributions

K.K. and V.C. carried out the experiments. A.T. and S.W. performed the numerical simulations and theoretical analysis. All the authors analysed and interpreted the obtained results, and participated equally in the discussions and in the writing of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to K. Krupa.

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Krupa, K., Tonello, A., Shalaby, B. et al. Spatial beam self-cleaning in multimode fibres. Nature Photon 11, 237–241 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2017.32

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