Unlocking mode programming with multi-plane light conversion using computer-generated hologram optimisation

Abstract Programmable optical devices provide performance enhancement and flexibility to spatial multiplexing systems enabling transmission of tributaries in high-order eigenmodes of spatially-diverse transmission media, like multimode fibre (MMF). Wavefront shaping with spatial light modulators (SLMs) facilitates scalability of the transmission media by allowing for channel diagonalization and quasi-single-input single-output operation. Programmable mode multiplexing configurations like multi-plane light conversion (MPLC) utilise the SLM and offer the potential to simultaneously launch an arbitrary subset of spatial tributaries in any N -mode MMF. Such programmable optical processor would enable the throughput of space-division multiplexing systems to be progressively increased by addressing a growing number of tributaries over one MMF and in this way meet a growing traffic demand—similarly to the wavelength-division multiplexing evolution path. Conventionally, MPLC phasemasks are calculated using the wavefront matching algorithm (WMA). However, this method does not exploit the full potential of programmable mode multiplexers. We show, that computer-generated hologram algorithms like direct search enable significant improvement compared to the traditional WMA-approach. Such gains are enabled by tailored cost functions with dynamic constraints concerning insertion loss as well as mode extinction ratio. We show that average mode extinction ratio can be greatly improved by as much as <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>≈</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> <mml:mn>15</mml:mn> <mml:mstyle scriptlevel="0"/> <mml:mtext>dB</mml:mtext> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> at the expense of insertion loss deterioration of less than <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>3</mml:mn> <mml:mstyle scriptlevel="0"/> <mml:mtext>dB</mml:mtext> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> . One particular feature of programmable mode multiplexers is the adaptability to optimised transmission functions. Besides conventional linearly polarized modes transmission, we employ our approach on Schmidt modes, which are spatial eigenchannels with minimum crosstalk derived from a measured transmission matrix.