3D-printed mode-selective micro-scale photonic lantern spatial (de)multiplexer

Fig. 1. (a) The PL with its three components: source interface, Mux, and output taper. (b) Genetic algorithm evolution throughout design generations. Final PL+taper system simulation. (c) Excitation of three different input waveguides at 1.55 μm wavelength, with corresponding output intensity profiles shown for each case. (d) Simulated XT and IL performance across the 1.5–1.6 μm wavelength range.

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Fig. 2. Fabricated photonic lanterns: (a) SEM side view of prototype PL structure on glass substrate. (b) Side view SEM image of the taper, designed for matching the PL output to the 3-MF. (c) Microscope image of the PL butt-coupled to the tapered 3-MF (with a small gap that is minimized during experiment).

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Fig. 3. Power transmission through fiber. (a) Experimental setup: O.S., optical switch; PC, polarization controller; 7-CF, seven-core fiber; 3-MF, three-mode fiber; PD, photo-detector. (b) Loss at PL and 3-MF. (c) PDL measurement from each of the PL’s inputs.

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Fig. 4. Photonic lantern output field characterizations: (a) the reconstructed electric fields resulting from each input mode of the PL contain two orthogonal complex field components ( $E_{x}$ and $E_{y}$ ). (b), (c) The absolute squared values of the wavelength dependent coupling matrix are shown with respect to the (b) three-mode fiber modes and (c) fiber mode groups. (d) All modes, mode group 1, and mode group 2 ILs calculated from SVD of the coupling matrix and XT as a function of wavelength.

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Fig. 5. Mode Mux, fiber, and Demux characterization. (a) Experimental setup: ECL, external cavity laser; PD, photo-detector. (b) Power transmission matrix of the system, normalized to the laser input power. (c) Image of a butt-coupling setup.

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Fig. 6. IM/DD mode group multiplexed communication experiment. (a) Experimental setup: ECL, external cavity laser; PMF, polarization maintaining fiber; MZM, Mach-Zehnder modulator; PG, pattern generator; PD, photo-detector; ASE, amplified spontaneous emission source; VOA, variable optical attenuator; OSA, optical spectrum analyzer; PC, polarization controller; PBS/C, polarization beam splitter/combiner; BPF, band pass filter; BERT, BER tester. Eye diagrams of (b) ${L P}_{01}$ and (c) ${L P}_{11}$ channels. (d) BER versus OSNR of the two spatial channels and SMF channels.

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Table 1. Comparison of Different Scale Three-Spatial-Mode Multiplexer Types

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Table 1. Comparison of Different Scale Three-Spatial-Mode Multiplexer Types

Three-Mode Multiplexer	IL	IL with FMF	XT	Size	Source
All fiber PL	$< 0.6 dB$	$< 0.6 dB$	$- 20 dB$	125 mm long	[29]
Glass inscribed PL	$< 1.5 dB$	$< 2.5 dB$	-	$50 mm \times 15 mm \times 10 mm$	[30]
Air cladding fiber PL	-	$< 3.2 dB$	$< −16.8 dB$	25 mm long	[4,13]
MS-MPLC	$> 10 dB$	$> 10 dB$	$< −15 dB$ (at $λ = 1550 nm$ )	$1 {mm}^{2}$	[25]
3D-printed microscale PL	$< 1.8 dB$	$< 3.5 dB$	$< −16 dB$	$Ø 70 μm \times H (300 μm + 150 μm)$	This work

Table 2. Power Penalty for Each Channel at BER ${= 10}^{- 6}$
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Table 2. Power Penalty for Each Channel at BER ${= 10}^{- 6}$
Channel ${L P}_{01}$ -only ${L P}_{11}$ -only ${L P}_{01}$ ${L P}_{11}$
Penalty [dB] 0.34 0.7 1.1 1.8

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Yoav Dana, Yehudit Garcia, Aleksei Kukin, Dan M. Marom, "3D-printed mode-selective micro-scale photonic lantern spatial (de)multiplexer," Photonics Res. 13, 2088 (2025)

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