Robustness of Light-Transport Processes to Bending Deformations in Graded-Index Multimode Waveguides

0491205 - ÚPT 2019 RIV US eng J - Článek v odborném periodiku
Flaes, D.E.B. - Stopka, Jan - Turtaev, S. - de Boer, J.F. - Tyc, Tomáš - Čižmár, Tomáš
Robustness of Light-Transport Processes to Bending Deformations in Graded-Index Multimode Waveguides.
Physical Review Letters. Roč. 120, č. 23 (2018), s. 1-5, č. článku 233901. ISSN 0031-9007. E-ISSN 1079-7114
Grant CEP: GA MŠMT EF15_003/0000476
Institucionální podpora: RVO:68081731
Klíčová slova: fiber * transmission * resolution
Obor OECD: Optics (including laser optics and quantum optics)
Impakt faktor: 9.227, rok: 2018

Light transport through a multimode optical waveguide undergoes changes when subjected to bending deformations. We show that optical waveguides with a perfectly parabolic refractive index profile are almost immune to bending, conserving the structure of propagation-invariant modes. Moreover, we show that changes to the transmission matrix of parabolic-index fibers due to bending can be expressed with only two free parameters, regardless of how complex a particular deformation is. We provide detailed analysis of experimentally measured transmission matrices of a commercially available graded-index fiber as well as a gradient-index rod lens featuring a very faithful parabolic refractive index profile. Although parabolic-index fibers with a sufficiently precise refractive index profile are not within our reach, we show that imaging performance with standard commercially available graded-index fibers is significantly less influenced by bending deformations than step-index types under the same conditions. Our work thus predicts that the availability of ultraprecise parabolic-index fibers will make endoscopic applications with flexible probes feasible and free from extremely elaborate computational challenges.
Trvalý link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0285246