All-Optical Signal Processes Enhanced by Multi-Mode Nonlinearities

Lead Research Organisation: University of Southampton
Department Name: Optoelectronics Research Ctr (closed)

Abstract

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Studentship Projects

Project Reference Relationship Related To Start End Student Name
EP/N509747/1 01/10/2016 30/09/2021
1921270 Studentship EP/N509747/1 01/10/2016 31/03/2020 Omar Anjum
 
Description Nonlinear processes in waveguides can be used to implement signal processing functionalities by all-optical means. Most demonstrations involving these functionalities have been based on single-mode waveguides, such as highly nonlinear fibers and silicon photonic chips.

Multimode waveguides offer the potential to overcome some limitations of these single-mode systems. I have demonstrated this potential through a number of experiments. For example, I have shown how multimode fibers can be used to achieve polarization insensitive wavelength conversion without the use of polarization diversity schemes. In another work which involved collaboration with SEI (Sumitomo Electric Industries) Japan, I showed how the operating bandwidth of wavelength converters can be enhanced by using appropriately designed multi-mode waveguides. I also demonstrated how multimode fibers can be used to do selective wavelength conversion, a process which is very difficult to implement in single mode fibers. Lastly, I have implemented an all-optical scheme which uses the linear propagation properties of higher order modes in birefringent fibers to switch optical power between two output ports.
Exploitation Route The results obtained are relevant to a several areas which involve nonlinear optical processes. For example, the results have been cited by researchers working on next generation telecoms systems. The same ideas and techniques are also being implemented by research colleagues in silicon photonics.
Sectors Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software)
 
Description Collaboration with Optical Communications Laboratory, Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd. Japan 
Organisation Sumitomo Corporation
Country Japan 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution I used the fibers provided by SEI (Optical Communications Laboratory, Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd. Japan) to demonstrate important results concerning nonlinear effects in multimode fibers.
Collaborator Contribution SEI fabricated multimode fibers for use in our experiments.
Impact The following journal publications involve experiments in which I used the fibres provided by SEI: 1. Selective wavelength conversion in a few-mode fiber, Vol. 27, Issue 17, pp. 24072-24081 (2019). 2. Bandwidth enhancement of inter-modal four wave mixing Bragg scattering by means of dispersion engineering, APL Photonics 4, 022902 (2019) Presentations relating to the above works were also made at the following international conferences: 1. OFC, San Diego 2019. 2. ECOC, Rome 2018. The collaboration was multi-disciplinary. It involved physics and physical modelling (by our team) and materials science and chemistry (for fibre fabrication by our partners).
Start Year 2017