0000000000290654
AUTHOR
Alain Barthélémy
Spatial beam self-cleaning in multimode fibres
Multimode optical fibres are enjoying a renewed attention, boosted by the urgent need to overcome the current capacity crunch of single-mode fibre systems and by recent advances in multimode complex nonlinear optics [1-13]. In this work, we demonstrate that standard multimode fibres can be used as ultrafast all-optical tool for transverse beam manipulation of high power laser pulses. Our experimental data show that the Kerr effect in a graded-index multimode fibre is the driving mechanism for overcoming speckle distortions, leading to a somewhat counter-intuitive effect resulting in a spatially clean output beam robust against fibre bending. Our observations demonstrate that nonlinear beam …
Nonlinear beam self-cleaning in a coupled cavity composite laser based on multimode fiber
International audience; We study a coupled cavity laser configuration where a passively Q-switched Nd:YAG microchip laser is combined with an extended cavity, including a doped multimode fiber. For appropriate coupling levels with the extended cavity, we observed that beam self-cleaning was induced in the multimode fiber thanks to nonlinear modal coupling, leading to a quasi-single mode laser output. In the regime of beam self-cleaning, laser pulse duration was reduced from 525 to 225 ps. We also observed a Q-switched mode-locked operation, where spatial self-cleaning was accompanied by far-detuned nonlinear frequency conversion in the active multimode fiber.
Modal attraction on low order modes by Kerr effect in a graded refractive index multimode fiber
Modal attraction towards low order modes in a GRIN multimode fiber was experimentally observed at high power and characterized, thus enriching the dynamics of the Kerr self-cleaning effect leading to quasi fundamental mode generation.
Observation of Geometric Parametric Instability Induced by the Periodic Spatial Self-Imaging of Multimode Waves
Spatio-temporal mode coupling in highly multimode physical systems permits new routes for exploring complex instabilities and forming coherent wave structures. We present here the first experimental demonstration of multiple geometric parametric instability sidebands, generated in the frequency domain through resonant space-time coupling, owing to the natural periodic spatial self-imaging of a multimode quasi-continuous-wave beam in a standard graded-index multimode fiber. The input beam was launched in the fiber by means of an amplified microchip laser emitting sub-nanosecond pulses at 1064 nm. The experimentally observed frequency spacing among sidebands agrees well with analytical predic…
Spatial and spectral nonlinear shaping of multimode waves
We demonstrate a novel nonlinear dynamics of multimode fibers that reshapes their spectral and spatial beam profiles, based on spatiotemporal modulation instability. Sidebands ranging from the visible to the near-infrared are carried by one and the same spatial bell-shaped profile.
Spatiotemporal Dynamics in Multimode Nonlinear Optical Fibers
International audience
Multidimensional shaping of spatiotemporal waves in multimode nonlinear fibers
Recent experiments have shown that nonlinear wave propagation in multimode optical fibers leads to complex spatio-temporal phenomena. In this talk, we introduce new approaches for the control and optimization of nonlinear beam reshaping in the spatial, temporal and spectral dimensions. The first approach applies to spatial beam self-cleaning the technique of transverse wavefront shaping, which permits to launch an optimized input mode combination, that results in the stable generation of a whole nonlinear mode alphabet at the fiber output. The second approach introduces a longitudinal tapering of the core diameter of multimode active and passive fibers, which permits to generate ultra-wideb…
Spatiotemporal light-beam compression from nonlinear mode coupling
We experimentally demonstrate simultaneous spatial and temporal compression in the propagation of light pulses in multimode nonlinear optical fibers. We reveal that the spatial beam self-cleaning recently discovered in graded-index multimode fibers is accompanied by significant temporal reshaping and up to four-fold shortening of the injected sub-nanosecond laser pulses. Since the nonlinear coupling among the modes strongly depends on the instantaneous power, we explore the entire range of the nonlinear dynamics with a single optical pulse, where the optical power is continuously varied across the pulse profile.
Spatiotemporal Nonlinear Interactions in Multimode Fibers (invited)
International audience
Spatiotemporal Nonlinear Beam Shaping
The reshaping of multimode waves in optical fibers is a process where the spatial and spectral degrees of freedom are inherently coupled. Our experiments demonstrate that pumping a graded-index multimode fiber with sub-ns pulses from a microchip Nd:YAG laser leads to supercontinuum generation with a uniform bell-shaped spatial beam profile.
Nonlinear spatial self-cleaning in multimode amplifying fiber and fiber laser cavity
During the last years, multimode fibers (MMFs) were used as an experimental platform for the observation of complex nonlinear propagation phenomena, thanks to their additional spatiotemporal degrees of freedom with respect to single mode fibers. Multimode solitons [1], geometric parametric instability [2], self-induced beam cleaning (SBC) [3] and supercontinuum generation have been reported [4]. In all of these situations considered so far the MMFs were standard graded-index fibers: the intermodal interactions took place in a conservative system (propagation losses were negligible). In this work we have experimentally investigated the Kerr SBC in three dissipative systems: a MMF with signif…
Nonlinear modal control by Kerr beam self-cleaning and wavefront shaping in graded-index multimode fiber
International audience
Coherent wavelength generation in multimode fibers
National audience
Multidimensional Shaping of SpatiotemporalWaves in Multimode Nonlinear Fibers (invited)
International audience
Spatio-temporal beam dynamics in multimode nonlinear optical fibers
We overview recent advances in the spatio-temporal nonlinear dynamics of optical pulses propagating in multimode optical fibers. The Kerr effect leads to spatial beam self-cleaning in a graded-index multimode optical fiber, followed by sideband series generation spanning multiple octaves. Effectively single mode supercontinuum spanning from the visible to the mid-infrared was also demonstrated. Enhancement of Kerr beam self-cleaning was observed in active fiber with quasi-step index profile. Moreover, mutual self-cleaning was recently reported for both the fundamental and the second harmonic beams in optically poled multimode fibers with cubic and quadratic nonlinearity.
Nonlinear Multimode Fiber Optics
We overview recent advances in the nonlinear optics of multimode optical fibers, including ultrabroadband sideband and supercontinuum generation, Kerr and Raman beam cleanup, modal modulation instabilities, four wave mixing, and second harmonic beam cleaning.
Optical Fibers Enter a New Space-Time Era
International audience
Cascaded intermodal four-wave mixing in a few-mode fiber
During the last few years, intensive works on multimode fibers allowed for the observation of a series of complex and novel nonlinear spatiotemporal phenomena such as: multimode solitons, geometric parametric instability, supercontinuum generation, and self-induced beam cleaning [1-4]. Among these phenomena, intermodal four-wave mixing (IMFWM) demonstrated larger frequency shifts in comparison with single-mode fibers. In this work, we studied IMFWM in a few-mode graded-index fiber (GRIN-FMF) pumped in the normal dispersion regime at 1064 nm. We report parametric sidebands detuned by hundreds of THz from the pump.
Optical Fibers Enter a New Space-Time Era
We show experimentally a new type of parametric instability associated with the original phenomenon of beam self-cleaning in multimode fibers. Our experimental results are in good agreement with numerical solutions of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation.
Spatial Beam Evolution in Nonlinear Multimode Fibers
We discuss some recent results illustrating the role of input wave-front shaping, propagation dynamics and output beam diagnostics in order to observe spatial beam cleaning in nonlinear multimode fibers and amplifiers.
Nonlinear dynamics in multimode optical fibers (invited)
International audience
Spatiotemporal Nonlinear Beam Shaping
International audience
Spatiotemporal pulse shaping with multimode nonlinear guided waves
We experimentally and theoretically investigate complex temporal pulse reshaping that accompanies Kerr beam self-cleaning in multimode optical fibers. We also study the output beam shape dependence on initial conditions.
Nonlinear dynamics of spatio-temporal waves in multimode fibres
International audience
Kerr Beam Self-Cleaning in Multimode Fibers
We overview recent experimental results of beam self-cleaning observed in various types of multimode fibers. We analyze the output spatial beam shapes and their connection with the refractive index profile of the fibers.
Kerr self-cleaning of pulsed beam in an ytterbium doped multimode fiber
International audience; We experimentally demonstrate that Kerr spatial self-cleaning of a pulsed beam can be obtained in an amplifying multimode optical fiber. An input peak power of 500 W only was sufficient to produce a quasi-single-mode emission from the double-clad ytterbium doped multimode fiber (YMMF) with non-parabolic refractive index profile. We compare the self-cleaning behavior observed in the same fiber with loss and with gain. Laser gain introduces new opportunities to achieve spatial self-cleaning of light in multimode fibers at a relatively low power threshold.
Adaptive Kerr-Assisted Transverse Mode Selection in Multimode Fibers
Multimode optical fibers (MMFs) have recently regained interest because of the degrees of freedom associated with their different eigenmodes. In the nonlinear propagation regime in particular, new phenomena have been unveiled in graded-index (GRIN) MMFs such as geometric parametric instabilities and Kerr beam self-cleaning [1, 2]. The speckled pattern observed at the output of the MMF at low powers, is transformed at high powers into a bell-shaped beam close to the fundamental mode. Recent work has also demonstrated that Kerr beam self-cleaning can lead to a low-order spatial mode, different from a bell-shape, by adjusting the laser beam in-coupling conditions [3]. An attractive way to syst…
Spatiotemporal beam shaping in nonlinear multimode fibers
Kerr beam self-cleaning in graded-index multimode fibers is accompanied by power-dependent temporal pulse reshaping. We explore the complex nonlinear dynamics with a single long pulse, where the optical power is continuously varied across its profile.
Nonlinear Dynamics in multimode fibers
International audience