OAM modes characteristics analysis and low-loss transmission based on topological confinement

TL;DR

This paper analyzes topologically confined OAM modes in ring-core fibers, proposing designs for low-loss fibers and demonstrating their high capacity potential through experimental and analytical methods.

Contribution

It introduces a graded index ring-core fiber with improved characteristics and fabricates low-loss fibers to support stable topologically confined modes.

Findings

24 low-loss TCMs observed in fabricated fibers

Analytical model estimates high SNR and spectral efficiency

Fiber design parameters influence TCM characteristics

Abstract

The topological confinement is a new mechanism that allows the transmission of cutoff orbital angular momentum (OAM) modes with negligible loss in ring-core fibers (RCFs) and provides a natural immunity against mode coupling. We investigate the influence of fiber design parameters and wavelength on the characteristics of topologically confined modes (TCMs) in step index ring-core fibers (SI-RCFs), and propose a type of graded index ring-core fibers (GI-RCF) with better characteristics. Furthermore, as TCMs occurs in structures with high refractive index difference and are often accompanied by relatively high scattering loss, we fabricate a type of low-loss SI-RCF and observe the stable existence of 24 low-loss TCMs in total. Subsequently, we use an analytical model to estimate the maximum signal-to-noise (SNR) and spectral efficiency (SE) of the fiber, demonstrating its strong capacity advantages.