| Transverse fiber modes are the distribution of electromagnetic fields in the cross-section of an optical fiber through which light propagates in the fiber. Research is being conducted to explore the usage of fiber modes with the purpose of increasing the capacity and reach of optical fibers. Mode Division Multiplexing, an area in which reseach is being conducted with the same purpose, is a multiplexing scheme used in optical networks that maps data channels onto different modes, and multiplexes these modes into one fiber for transmission. This thesis focuses on the study of modes in multi-mode fibers, and the simulation of mode creation in gradient-index multi-mode fibers. Starting from published related works, equations for electric fields in step-index and gradient-index multi-mode fibers are derived, and examples of intensity profiles in several modes are shown. For the first time, we seek to study modal cross-talk between modes. Given the creation process, not all power is coupled into the desired mode, resulting in some power being coupled into undesired modes. We also seek to increase the power coupling between the created mode and the desired mode. We report a 23% power coupling increase up from previous works. Finally, we seek to study the effect of noise introduced by the components used in the process of creating modes. We report an approximate 30dB signal-to-noise ratio is sufficient to create a mode with maximum power coupling. |
