Accurate mode purity measurement of ring core fibers with large mode numbers from the intensity distribution only

Abstract

Mode purity measurement is crucial for various applications utilizing few-mode fibers and related devices. In this paper, we propose a simple and accurate method for measuring the mode purity of the output optical field in few-mode ring-core fibers (RCFs). Mode purity can be calculated solely from the outgoing intensity distribution with high precision. This method is theoretically capable of measuring the mode purity of RCFs that support orbital angular momentum modes with an infinite number of azimuthal orders and has strong applicability to various RCF types and image qualities simultaneously. We demonstrate our approach numerically and verify it experimentally in a few-mode RCF supporting four (five) mode groups at 1550 (1310) nm. A polarization test method is proposed to verify its accuracy. We believe that this straightforward and cost-effective characterization method for RCFs and RCF-based devices can promote the development of mode-division multiplexing technology and its applications.