Systems and techniques for orbital angular momentum based reconfigurable switching

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9768909-B2
Application number	US-201514663392-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 19, 2015
Priority date	Mar 19, 2014
Publication date	Sep 19, 2017
Grant date	Sep 19, 2017

Abstract

In at least one aspect, a device for Orbital Angular Momentum (OAM) based optical communication includes a first spatial light modulator configured to down-convert a first plurality of higher-order OAM modes from a communication signal to a second plurality of higher-order OAM modes and a first Gaussian mode, a second spatial light modulator configured to drop the first Gaussian mode and add a second Gaussian mode to the second plurality of higher-order OAM modes, and a third spatial light modulator configured to up-convert the second plurality of higher-order OAM modes and the second Gaussian mode to a third plurality of higher-order OAM modes for further communications.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A device for Orbital Angular Momentum (OAM) based optical communications comprising:
a first spatial light modulator configured to down-convert a first plurality of higher-order OAM modes from a communication signal to a second plurality of higher-order OAM modes and a first Gaussian mode;
a second spatial light modulator configured to drop the first Gaussian mode and add a second Gaussian mode to the second plurality of higher-order OAM modes, wherein the first Gaussian mode is different from the second Gaussian mode; and
a third spatial light modulator configured to up-convert the second plurality of higher-order OAM modes and the second Gaussian mode to a third plurality of higher-order OAM modes for further communications, wherein the third spatial light modulator comprises two parts, an inner part configured to up-convert the second Gaussian mode, and an outer part, surrounding the inner part, configured to up-convert the second plurality of OAM modes.

2. A device for Orbital Angular Momentum (OAM) based optical communications comprising:
a first spatial light modulator configured to down-convert a first plurality of higher-order OAM modes from a communication signal to a second plurality of higher-order OAM modes and a first Gaussian mode;
a second spatial light modulator configured to drop the first Gaussian mode and add a second Gaussian mode to the second plurality of higher-order OAM modes, wherein the first Gaussian mode is different from the second Gaussian mode, wherein the second spatial light modulator comprises an inner part, and an outer part, surrounding the inner part, the inner part reflects the first Gaussian mode, and the outer part reflects the modes of the second plurality of OAM modes other than the first Gaussian mode; and
a third spatial light modulator configured to up-convert the second plurality of higher-order OAM modes and the second Gaussian mode to a third plurality of higher-order OAM modes for further communications.

3. The device of claim 1 , comprising a fourth spatial light modulator configured to down-convert a fourth plurality of higher-order OAM modes from a communication signal to a fifth plurality of higher-order OAM modes and a third Gaussian mode.

4. The device of claim 3 , wherein the third Gaussian mode is the second Gaussian mode.

5. The device of claim 3 , wherein the second spatial light modulator is configured to drop the third Gaussian mode, and add the first Gaussian mode to the fifth plurality of higher-order OAM modes.

6. The device of claim 5 , comprising a fifth spatial light modulator configured to up-convert the fifth plurality of higher-order OAM modes and the first Gaussian mode to a sixth plurality of higher-order OAM modes for further communication.

7. The device of claim 6 , wherein the fifth spatial light modulator comprises two parts, an inner part configured to up-convert the first Gaussian mode, and an outer part, surrounding the inner part, configured to up-convert the fifth plurality of higher-order OAM modes.

8. The device of claim 7 , wherein the inner part of the fifth spatial light modulator is configured such that the angle of reflection of the first Gaussian mode is greater than the angle of incidence of the first Gaussian mode.

9. The device of claim 8 , wherein the outer part of the fifth spatial light modulator is configured such that the angle of reflection of the second plurality of higher-order OAM modes is less than the angle of incidence of the second plurality of higher-order OAM modes.

10. The device of claim 1 , wherein the second spatial light modulator comprises an inner part, and an outer part, surrounding the inner part, the inner part reflects the first Gaussian mode, and the outer part reflects the modes of the second plurality of OAM modes other than the first Gaussian mode.

11. The device of claim 2 , wherein the third spatial light modulator comprises two parts, an inner part configured to up-convert the second Gaussian mode, and an outer part, surrounding the inner part, configured to up-convert the second plurality of OAM modes.

12. A device for Orbital Angular Momentum (OAM) based optical communications comprising:
a down-converter configured to down-convert a first plurality of higher-order OAM modes from a communication signal to a second plurality of higher-order OAM modes and a first Gaussian mode;
a spatial light modulator configured to drop the first Gaussian mode and add a second Gaussian mode to the second plurality of higher-order OAM modes, wherein the first Gaussian mode is different from the second Gaussian mode; and
an upconverter comprising
an inner part configured to up-convert the second Gaussian mode, and
an outer part, surrounding the inner part, configured to up-convert the second plurality of OAM modes,
wherein the up-converted second Gaussian mode and the up-converted second plurality of OAM modes represent a third plurality of higher-order OAM modes for further communications.

13. The device of claim 12 , wherein the spatial light modulator comprises an inner part, and an outer part, surrounding the inner part, the inner part reflects the first Gaussian mode, and the outer part reflects the modes of the second plurality of OAM modes other than the first Gaussian mode.

Assignees

• Huang Hao
• Yue Yang
• Ahmed Nisar
• Willner Moshe J
• Yan Yan
• Ren Yongxiong
• Tur Moshe
• Willner Alan E
• Univ Southern California

Inventors

• Huang Hao
• Yue Yang
• Ahmed Nisar
• Willner Moshe J
• Yan Yan
• Ren Yongxiong
• Tur Moshe
• Willner Alan E

Classifications

• H04J14/04 Primary

  Mode multiplex systems · CPC title

• H04J14/00

  Optical multiplex systems · CPC title

• H04J14/052 Primary

  using multicore fibre (mode multiplex systems H04J14/04) · CPC title

• H04J14/07 Primary

  Orbital angular momentum [OAM] multiplex systems · CPC title