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Updated: May 19, 2026

Direct Imaging of Laser-driven Ultrafast Molecular Rotation
Published on: February 4, 2017
Polarization-resolved imaging of an ensemble of waveguide modes
1Photonics Center, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA. dschimpf@mit.edu
Abstract:
We demonstrate polarization-sensitive measurement of the modal content of waveguides by generalizing the classic rotating wave-plate-based polarimeter to wide-field optical low-coherence interferometry. The spatial phases of the modes are retrieved with principal component analysis. By applying this polarization-sensitive cross-correlation (C2) imaging technique to the characterization of a few-mode fiber, we reveal that different modes experience distinct bend-induced birefringence in optical fibers. This polarization-resolved C2 imaging is well suited for analyzing the impact of polarization on wave propagation in high-power fiber lasers as well as in mode-division-multiplexed communications systems.
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