Simulation of multimode optical fibers using the angular spectrum algorithm and a Fourier analysis

Appl Opt. 2019 Jun 10;58(17):4585-4591. doi: 10.1364/AO.58.004585.

Abstract

Multimode optical fibers are gaining increased interest for higher data rate transmissions. In this work, we examine the propagation of beams in multimode optical fibers using the angular spectrum method for several values for the propagation constant V. We prepare a sequence of 4096 images over 200,000 steps, each representing a wavelength within the fiber. We perform a one-dimensional Fourier transform of these data and obtain the propagation constant for each transmitted mode. We then obtain the electric field profile for each transmitted mode. We find excellent agreement with weakly guided mode theory. This work represents another step in the use of this algorithm for analyzing more complicated optical fiber structures.