Data transmission with twisted light through a free-space to fiber optical communication link

Mode division multiplexing (MDM), where information is transmitted in the spatial modes of light, is mooted as a future technology with which to transmit large bits of information. However, one of the key issues in optical communication lies in connecting free-space to optical fiber networks, otherwise known as the 'last mile' problem. This is particularly problematic for MDM as the eigenmodes of free-space and fibers are in general not the same. Here we demonstrate a data transmission scheme across a free-space and fiber link using twisted light in the form of Laguerre–Gaussian (LG) azimuthal modes. As a proof-of-principle we design and implement a custom fiber where the supported LG modes can be grouped into five non-degenerate sets, and successfully transmit a gray-scale image across the composite link using one mode from each group, thereby ensuring minimal crosstalk.