Dynamic control of higher-order modes in hollow-core photonic crystal fibers

We present a versatile method for selective mode coupling into higher-order modes of photonic crystal fibers, using holograms electronically generated by a spatial light modulator. The method enables non-mechanical and completely repeatable changes in the coupling conditions. We have excited higher order modes up to LP(31) in hollow-core photonic crystal fibers. The reproducibility of the coupling allows direct comparison of the losses of different guided modes in both hollow-core bandgap and kagome-lattice photonic crystal fibers. Our results are also relevant to applications in which the intensity distribution of the light inside the fiber is important, such as particle-or atom-guidance. (C) 2008 Optical Society of Americ