Study of spatial–temporal characteristics of optical fiber based on ultrashort-pulse interferometry

Abstract

We demonstrate a method for reconstruction of the modal intensity distribution of light at the output of an optical fiber. Spatial modes of the optical fiber are separated in time as a result of differences in group velocity and are detected experimentally by observation of the interference of the modal field distribution with the time-gating reference field. The detected interference patterns of the modal fields are analyzed, providing the spatial impulse response of the fiber. We also use interferometric correlation to determine the spatiotemporal characteristics of the fiber modes, such as pulse width, linear chirp, and group velocity, for each mode.