Non-Hermitian mode management in periodically modulated waveguide amplifiers

Abstract

We propose an efficient mode management scheme in active nonlinear multimode fibers based on non-Hermitian potentials in the longitudinal direction with an antisymmetric transverse profile. The proposal takes advantage of the nonlinear saturation toward particular mode configurations, which can be tuned by the non-Hermitian potential. We demonstrate flexible control of the beam profile within the parameter space of the applied potential with various possibilities, such as improving the beam quality by condensing photons to the lowest order Hermite mode, exciting higher order modes, or engineering a desired mode profile as a combination of modes. The effect is also analytically predicted using a mode-expansion approach, showing good agreement with the full model calculations based on the complex Ginzburg–Landau equation. This study was performed for 1D planar guiding structures, yet the results can be extended to 2D fibers and could be very useful in applications of fiber amplifiers and lasers.