SAIP2015

Controlled injection of higher-order modes into an optical fiber from a solid state digital laser

2 Jul 2015, 15:20

20m

Oral Presentation Track C - Photonics Photonics

Speaker

Mr Sandile Ngcobo (CSIR)

Main supervisor (name and email)<br>and his / her institution

Dr Sandile Ngcobo
CSIR-NLC

Level for award<br>&nbsp;(Hons, MSc, <br> &nbsp; PhD, N/A)?

PhD

Apply to be<br> considered for a student <br> &nbsp; award (Yes / No)?

NO

Would you like to <br> submit a short paper <br> for the Conference <br> Proceedings (Yes / No)?

Yes

Please indicate whether<br>this abstract may be<br>published online<br>(Yes / No)

Yes

Abstract content <br> &nbsp; (Max 300 words)<br><a href="http://events.saip.org.za/getFile.py/access?resId=0&materialId=0&confId=34" target="_blank">Formatting &<br>Special chars</a>

Mode division multiplexing has been mooted as a future technology to address the impending data crunch
of existing fibre networks. Present demonstrations delineate the light source from the mode creation steps,
potentially inhibiting integrated solutions. Here we demonstrate an integrated mode generating source in the
form of a digitally controlled solid state laser with an intra-cavity spatial light modulator. In our proof-of-
principle experiment we create fibre modes on demand and couple them directly into a few-mode fibre, where
after transmission they are decoupled by modal decomposition. This is the first demonstration of a single
source for encoding information into the spatial modes of light.