Abstract

Rayleigh backscattering produced by an incident fundamental mode in a multimode optical fiber is analyzed using a diffraction technique, with a full set of backward-propagating modes being taken into consideration. Explicit formulas are derived for mode excitation efficiency via radial distributions of the mode fields, and it is proved that only half-azimuthal modes are backscattered by the incident wave of a fixed polarization. Advanced analytical expressions are developed for fibers with a quadratic refractive-index profile, and mode groups of even numbers, composed of modes with equal propagation constants, are stated to be excited with equal efficiencies.

© 2016 Optical Society of America

Rayleigh backscattering from the fundamental mode in step-index multimode optical fibers

M. A. Bisyarin, O. I. Kotov, A. H. Hartog, L. B. Liokumovich, and N. A. Ushakov
Appl. Opt. 56(2) 354-364 (2017)

Rayleigh backscattered radiation produced by an arbitrary incident mode in multimode optical fibers

M. A. Bisyarin, O. I. Kotov, A. H. Hartog, L. B. Liokumovich, and N. A. Ushakov
Appl. Opt. 57(22) 6534-6544 (2018)

Influence of a variable Rayleigh scattering-loss coefficient on the light backscattering in multimode optical fibers

M. A. Bisyarin, O. I. Kotov, A. H. Hartog, L. B. Liokumovich, and N. A. Ushakov
Appl. Opt. 56(16) 4629-4635 (2017)

Rayleigh backscattering theory for single-mode optical fibers

Masataka Nakazawa
J. Opt. Soc. Am. 73(9) 1175-1180 (1983)

Theory of the backscattering process in multimode optical fibers

A. R. Mickelson and M. Eriksrud
Appl. Opt. 21(11) 1898-1909 (1982)