Complex mode amplitude measurement for a six-mode optical fiber

We propose a measurement protocol and parameter estimation algorithm to recover the powers and relative phases of each of the vector modes present at the output of an optical fiber that supports the HE11, TE01, HE21, and TM01 modes. The measurements consist of polarization filtered near-field intensity images that are easily implemented with standard off-shelf components. We demonstrate the accuracy of the method on both simulated and measured data from a recently demonstrated fiber that supports stable orbital angular momentum states. (C) 2013 Optical Society of America