Abstract

Modal noise is a significant system limitation in laser-based multimode fiber links, especially at long wavelengths. The mode power distribution (MPD), which specifies the amount of power flowing in each mode of a multimode fiber, influences the level of modal noise in these systems. A number of authors have pointed out that the level of modal noise should decrease as the number of fiber modes which are excited N_ex increases.^1-3 These calculations show that the noise level should be proportional to N_ex^1/2. Generally, previous work has assumed that power in multimode fibers was distributed uniformly among the fiber modes.^2,3

© 1984 Optical Society of America