One-wave optical phase conjugation mirror by actively coupling arbitrary light fields into a single-mode reflector

TL;DR

This paper presents a novel, simple, and high-throughput one-wave optical phase conjugation mirror using a spatial light modulator, enabling efficient light reversal and delivery through scattering media with potential applications in biomedical imaging.

Contribution

It introduces an adaptable single-mode filter for phase conjugation that is alignment-free, fast, and capable of handling high power, advancing optical wavefront control techniques.

Findings

Achieved high-throughput full-field light delivery through scattering tissue.

Demonstrated phase conjugation for quantum dot fluorescence.

Enabled efficient time-reversed wave propagation in complex media.

Abstract

Rewinding the arrow of time via phase conjugation is an intriguing phenomena made possible by the wave property of light. To exploit this phenomenon, diverse research fields have pursed the realization of an ideal phase conjugation mirror, but an optical system that requires a single-input and a single-output beam, like natural conventional mirrors has never been demonstrated. Here, we demonstrate the realization of a one-wave optical phase conjugation mirror using a spatial light modulator. An adaptable single-mode filter is created, and a phase-conjugate beam is then prepared by reverse propagation through this filter. Our method is simple, alignment free, and fast while allowing high power throughput in the time reversed wave, which have not been simultaneously demonstrated before. Using our method, we demonstrate high throughput full-field light delivery through highly scattering biological tissue and multimode fibers, even for quantum dot fluorescence.