Complete measurement of fiber modal content by wavefront analysis

Abstract : We propose and demonstrate the use of a wavefront analyzer based on lateral shearing interferometry to characterize the modal content of multimode fibers. This wavefront measurement technique is applied to large mode area fibers, and allows us to recover both the intensity and relative phase of each guided mode. This constitutes an innovative complete characterization of the beam, and might be used as a probe in deterministic active wavefront correction techniques.