Rp. Salathe et al., COUPLED-MODE PROPAGATION IN MULTICORE FIBERS CHARACTERIZED BY OPTICALLOW-COHERENCE REFLECTOMETRY, Optics letters, 21(13), 1996, pp. 1006-1008
A fiber-optical low-coherence reflectometer has been used to probe a m
ulticore fiber locally at a wavelength of 1.3 mu m. This technique all
ows one to determine the group index of refraction of the modes in the
multicore fiber with high accuracy. Light, propagation that is due to
noncoherent coupling of energy from one fiber core to adjacent cores
through cladding modes can be distinguished quantitatively from light
propagating in coherently coupled modes. Intercore coupling constants
in the range of 0.6-2 mm(-1) have been evaluated for the coupled modes
. (C) 1996 Optical Society of America