Controlled excitation of scar modes in passive and active multimode chaotic fiber

Appl Opt. 2009 Nov 1;48(31):G163-8. doi: 10.1364/AO.48.00G163.

Abstract

A multimode optical fiber with a D-shaped cross section is an experimental paradigm of a wave system with chaotic ray dynamics. We show that seldom but usable modes, called scar modes, localized along some particular direction of the geometric trajectories, can be selectively excited. We report numerical simulations that demonstrate the importance of the so-called self-focal point in the scar mode selection process. We use a localized illumination in a passive fiber, or a localized gain in a ytterbium-doped fiber, located in the vicinity of this special point to control scar mode selection.