Thermally Tunable Orbital Angular Momentum Mode Generator Based on Dual-Core Photonic Crystal Fibers

Abstract

The combination of mode division multiplexing (MDM) based on orbital angular momentum (OAM) modes with wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) has attracted considerable attention due to its ability to increase optical transmission capacity. However, the switching of the multi-wavelength and multi-order OAM mode in an all-fiber structure has always been a challenge. As a solution, a thermally tunable dual-core photonic crystal fiber (DC-PCF) is proposed to achieve multi-order and multi-wavelength switching of the OAM mode. The results show that the OAM mode with topological charge m = ±1 can be excited with the linear polarization fundamental mode (LPFM) and circular polarization fundamental mode (CPFM). In addition, the device can effectively excite a high-purity ±1st order OAM mode with wavelengths ranging from 1520 to 1575 nm by thermal tuning. The purity of the mode is in excess of 99%, and the energy conversion efficiency (ECE) is above 95%. The proposed design is expected to be applied in all-fiber communication systems combined with MDM and WDM.