Cross-correlated (C2) imaging of fiber and waveguide modes

We demonstrate a method that enables reconstruction of waveguide or fiber modes without assuming any optical properties of the test waveguide. The optical low-coherence interferometric technique accounts for the impact of dispersion on the cross-correlation signal. This approach reveals modal content even at small intermodal delays, thus providing a universally applicable method for determining the modal weights, profiles, relative group-delays and dispersion of all guided or quasi-guided (leaky) modes. Our current implementation allows us to measure delays on a femtosecond time-scale, mode discrimination down to about - 30 dB, and dispersion values as high as 500 ps/nm/km. We expect this technique to be especially useful in testing fundamental mode operation of multi-mode structures, prevalent in high-power fiber lasers. (C) 2011 Optical Society of America