Multiplexed single-mode wavelength-to-time mapping of multimode light

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 8; no. 1; p. 14080
• Main Authors: Chandrasekharan, Harikumar K, Izdebski, Frauke, Gris-Sánchez, Itandehui, Krstajić, Nikola, Walker, Richard, Bridle, Helen L., Dalgarno, Paul A., MacPherson, William N., Henderson, Robert K., Birks, Tim A., Thomson, Robert R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 25.01.2017; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 140/125; 639/166/987; 639/624/1075/187; 639/624/1107; Engineering schools; Humanities and Social Sciences; Light; multidisciplinary; Optics; Physical sciences; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Sensors; United Kingdom > UK
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/ncomms14080

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. Photonic lanterns are made by merging several single-mode cores into one multimode core. Here, the authors show this type of structure can both perform wavelength-to-time mapping of multimode states of light and couple such light to an array of single-photon avalanche detectors.