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Updated: Oct 8, 2026

Transmission of Multiple Signals through an Optical Fiber Using Wavefront Shaping
Published on: March 20, 2017
Optimum-transmission free-space optical communications
Abstract:
Slepian developed the prolate spheroidal wavefunction (PSW) spatial-mode basis, which forms the normal modes of the Fresnel-propagation kernel of a free-space optical communications channel bookended by hard-circular apertures. The zero-th-order PSW mode exhibits the highest power-transfer eigenvalue, thereby maximizing transmissivity for single-spatial-mode communications [Bell Syst. Tech. J.43, 3009 (1964)BSTJAN0005-858010.1002/j.1538-7305.1964.tb01037.x, J. Opt. Soc. Am.55, 1110 (1965)10.1364/JOSA.55.001110]. We show that the transmissivity performance of this fundamental PSW mode can be obtained by an aperture-truncated Gaussian beam of an optimized beam waist, despite the two mode shapes deviating from one another in the near-field regime.
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