Super- and Anti-Principal Modes in Multi-Mode Waveguides

Abstract

We introduce a new type of states for light in multimode waveguides featuring strongly enhanced or reduced spectral correlations. Based on the experimentally measured multi-spectral transmission matrix of a multimode fiber, we generate a set of states that outperform the established "principal modes" in terms of the spectral stability of their output spatial field profiles. Inverting this concept also allows us to create states with a minimal spectral correlation width, whose output profiles are considerably more sensitive to a frequency change than typical input wavefronts. The resulting "super-" and "anti-principal" modes are made orthogonal to each other even in the presence of mode-dependent loss. By decomposing them in the principal mode basis, we show that the super-principal modes are formed via interference of principal modes with closeby delay times, whereas the anti-principal modes are a superposition of principal modes with the most different delay times available in the fiber. Such novel states are expected to have broad applications in fiber communication, imaging, and spectroscopy.

8 pages, 5 figures, plus supplementary material

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• Impact of non-Hemiticity on modal strength and correlation in transmission through random open cavities
• How to find optimal quantum states for optical micromanipulation and metrology in complex scattering problems: tutorial
• Correlating light fields through disordered media across multiple degrees of freedom