TY - JOUR
T1 - Multiplexed single-mode wavelength-to-time mapping of multimode light
AU - Chandrasekharan, Harikumar K
AU - Izdebski, Frauke
AU - Gris-Sánchez, Itandehui
AU - Krstajić, Nikola
AU - Walker, Richard
AU - Bridle, Helen L
AU - Dalgarno, Paul A
AU - MacPherson, William N
AU - Henderson, Robert K.
AU - Birks, Tim A
AU - Thomson, Robert R
N1 - R.R.T. acknowledges funding from the STFC in the form of an STFC Advanced Fellowship (ST/H005595/1). R.R.T., T.A.B., R.K.H., W.N.M., P.A.D. and H.L.B. acknowledge funding through the STFC-CLASP scheme (ST/K006509/1, ST/K006460/1 and ST/K006584/1). N.K. was supported via the EPSRC-IRC (EP/K03197X/1). We thank ST Microelectronics, Imaging Division, Edinburgh for their support in the manufacture of the Megaframe chip. The Megaframe project has been supported by the European Community within the Sixth Framework Programme IST FET Open. R.R.T. thanks Renishaw plc for support through the Renishaw-Heriot-Watt Strategic Alliance. R.R.T. and H.K.C. thank Heriot-Watt University for a James-Watt Studentship. We thank Dr Jim Stone (University of Bath) for providing the supercontinuum fibre. We thank Prof. Des Smith FRS for providing us with the FP multilayer filter—developed through the Eurostars Optitune Grant with partners Delta Optical Thin Films A/S and Edinburgh Biosciences Ltd. We thank Photonic Solutions Ltd for loaning us the NKT Photonics SuperK Extreme EXW-12 source used for some of the characterization work detailed in the ‘Methods’ section.
PY - 2017/1/25
Y1 - 2017/1/25
N2 - When an optical pulse propagates along an optical fibre, different wavelengths travel at different group velocities. As a result, wavelength information is converted into arrival-time information, a process known as wavelength-to-time mapping. This phenomenon is most cleanly observed using a single-mode fibre transmission line, where spatial mode dispersion is not present, but the use of such fibres restricts possible applications. Here we demonstrate that photonic lanterns based on tapered single-mode multicore fibres provide an efficient way to couple multimode light to an array of single-photon avalanche detectors, each of which has its own time-to-digital converter for time-correlated single-photon counting. Exploiting this capability, we demonstrate the multiplexed single-mode wavelength-to-time mapping of multimode light using a multicore fibre photonic lantern with 121 single-mode cores, coupled to 121 detectors on a 32 × 32 detector array. This work paves the way to efficient multimode wavelength-to-time mapping systems with the spectral performance of single-mode systems.
AB - When an optical pulse propagates along an optical fibre, different wavelengths travel at different group velocities. As a result, wavelength information is converted into arrival-time information, a process known as wavelength-to-time mapping. This phenomenon is most cleanly observed using a single-mode fibre transmission line, where spatial mode dispersion is not present, but the use of such fibres restricts possible applications. Here we demonstrate that photonic lanterns based on tapered single-mode multicore fibres provide an efficient way to couple multimode light to an array of single-photon avalanche detectors, each of which has its own time-to-digital converter for time-correlated single-photon counting. Exploiting this capability, we demonstrate the multiplexed single-mode wavelength-to-time mapping of multimode light using a multicore fibre photonic lantern with 121 single-mode cores, coupled to 121 detectors on a 32 × 32 detector array. This work paves the way to efficient multimode wavelength-to-time mapping systems with the spectral performance of single-mode systems.
KW - Electrical and electronic engineering
KW - Fibre optics and optical communications
KW - Optical techniques
U2 - 10.1038/ncomms14080
DO - 10.1038/ncomms14080
M3 - Article
C2 - 28120822
SN - 2041-1723
VL - 8
SP - 14080
JO - Nature Communications
JF - Nature Communications
ER -