arXiv subjects

Mickael Mounaix

Publications and source records attributed to Mickael Mounaix.

13 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Optical Reservoir Computing with Structural Nonlinearity for Forecasting Chaotic Time Series

Optical computing offers a promising route to high-speed, energy-efficient information processing. However, implementing nonlinear operations typically requires strong light-matter interactions. Here, we introduce structural nonlinearity into an optical reservoir computing architecture, using only linear components. A digital micromirror device acts as a reconfigurable scattering potential, while the propagation of light through a scattering medium provides the high-dimensional mode mixing. By enforcing a second interaction with the wavefront shaper, we obtain a quadratic mapping of the input within the reservoir. A single experimental apparatus simultaneously implements conventional and structurally nonlinear reservoir architectures, enabling a direct comparison on forecasting of the chaotic Mackey-Glass time series. We demonstrate that the structurally nonlinear reservoir improves short-term prediction accuracy and better preserves the long-term dynamics of the chaotic system, demonstrating the potential of structural nonlinearity for low-power optical computing.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2026

Broadband Control of Light through Complex Media via Automatic Self-Referencing Transmission Matrix Characterisation

Light propagation through complex media underpins critical optical technologies, from imaging distant stars and ground-to-space communication to imaging inside biological tissue with hair-thin multimode fibre endoscopes. Central to controlling light through such disordered media lies the transmission matrix. Inaccessible to accurate modelling, the transmission matrix must be measured experimentally$-$yet this conventionally relies on techniques involving an external phase reference. For low-coherence or broadband sources, the stringent coherence, mode-matching, temporal-overlap, and stability requirements of that external reference can make such characterisation prohibitively difficult or fundamentally infeasible. Alternatively, existing self-referencing techniques use algorithmically fragile global optimisation methods, relying on fixed preselected internal reference(s), whose incomplete overlap with the transmitted field can create measurement blind spots. Here, we introduce an automatic self-referencing measurement technique based on spatial state tomography that circumvents these coherence and algorithmic limitations. Rather than relying on a preselected reference or complex phase retrieval, our approach systematically leverages the local interference among all propagating modes as distributed phase references without prior assumptions. We demonstrate this framework experimentally for a multimode fibre across coherent, low-coherence, and broadband regimes, recovering its complete optical transmission matrix and performing high-fidelity spatial and polarisation beam shaping in each case. By enabling robust, source-matched, self-referencing transmission-matrix measurement, our method extends light control through complex media into broadband illumination regimes relevant to biomedical imaging, optical communications, and high-power laser applications.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2025

Programmable spatiotemporal OAM optical toroidal beams with completely tunable properties

Spatiotemporal toroidal orbital angular momentum (OAM) beams are a developing class of spatiotemporal beams which have key applications within quantum physics, metrology, imaging and optical manipulation. However, the full realization of these applications require complete configurability within tunable temporal duration, 3D geometric structure and OAM charge of these beams along with amplitude, phase and polarization control. In this paper, we demonstrate complete configurability of programmable, polarization-resolved OAM toroidal beams after propagation through a multimode optical fiber (MMF) supporting 90 spatial/polarization modes. We show high fidelity control: temporally with beams spanning 2.3 ps - 6.8 ps, geometrically with toroidal aspect ratios spanning 1.5-2.7 and with up to $|l|=13$ OAM topological charge. In total this system supports 25,000 spatiotemporal and polarization degrees of freedom which enables the independent control of all physical and geometric properties of these 3D toroidal beams. By utilizing an MMF, this system also enables toroidal beam delivery to previously inaccessible regions, paving the way for applications including optical manipulations, sensing and imaging through complex photonics media such as scattering biological tissues.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2025

Spatiotemporal toroidal light beams with arbitrary polarization and orientation through a multimode fiber

Optical toroidal beams, with donut-shaped intensity profiles and orbital angular momentum (OAM), are promising for applications such as optical manipulation, metrology, and advanced light-matter interactions. However, practical implementations are limited by challenges in controlling their full 3D geometry and the orientation of their OAM. In this paper, we experimentally demonstrate high-dimensional, polarization-resolved, programmable 3D spatiotemporal toroidal beams with arbitrary 3D geometry. The beams are delivered after propagation through an optical multimode fiber (MMF) that supports 90 spatial/polarization modes. However, if desired, this system can also deliver these beams directly into free space as well. Our approach leverages 25,000 programmable spatiotemporal and polarization degrees of freedom to achieve precise manipulation of the amplitude, phase, polarization and temporal properties of toroidal beams. These beams feature highly customizable 3D geometries, allowing independent control of their aspect ratio and orientation. We further demonstrate the generation of beams with arbitrary OAM orientation, with beam rotations about any 3D spatiotemporal axis. These beams are delivered through an MMF which enables their transport deep into scattering materials and into otherwise hard-to-access regions which could include biological tissues. Hence, this device could enable the application of completely customizable optical manipulations, including rotations, deep within these materials.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2022

Roadmap on spatiotemporal light fields

Spatiotemporal sculpturing of light pulse with ultimately sophisticated structures represents the holy grail of the human everlasting pursue of ultrafast information transmission and processing as well as ultra-intense energy concentration and extraction. It also holds the key to unlock new extraordinary fundamental physical effects. Traditionally, spatiotemporal light pulses are always treated as spatiotemporally separable wave packet as solution of the Maxwell's equations. In the past decade, however, more generalized forms of spatiotemporally nonseparable solution started to emerge with growing importance for their striking physical effects. This roadmap intends to highlight the recent advances in the creation and control of increasingly complex spatiotemporally sculptured pulses, from spatiotemporally separable to complex nonseparable states, with diverse geometric and topological structures, presenting a bird's eye viewpoint on the zoology of spatiotemporal light fields and the outlook of future trends and open challenges.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2022

Spatial, spectral, temporal and polarisation resolved state tomography of light

The ability to measure polarisation, spectrum, temporal dynamics, and spatial amplitude and phase of optical beams is essential to study fundamental phenomena in laser dynamics, telecommunications and nonlinear optics. Current characterisation techniques only apply in limited contexts. Non-interferometric methods typically lack access to spatial phase, while phase-sensitive approaches necessitate either an auxiliary reference source or an adequate self-reference, neither of which is universally available. Regardless of the reference, deciphering complex wavefronts of multiple co-propagating incoherent fields remains particularly challenging. Here, we harness the principles of quantum state tomography to circumvent these limitations. A full description of an unknown beam is retrieved by measuring its temporally and spectrally resolved density matrices for both polarisations, using a spatial light modulator to display projective holograms and a single-mode fibre to guide the collected signal to a high-speed photodiode and a spectrometer. Despite no spatial resolution of the detector and the intensity-only character of the collected signal, the method resolves multiple arbitrary spatial fields within a single beam, including their phase and amplitude, as well as their spatial coherence. Leveraging the coherence information unlocks unambiguous determination of the spectral and temporal evolution of mutually incoherent fields, even when these spectrally overlap or have an identical time delay. We demonstrate these hallmark features by characterising the rich spatiotemporal and spectral output of a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser diode that has so far resisted full analysis using existing techniques.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2020

Time reversed optical waves by arbitrary vector spatiotemporal field generation

Lossless linear wave propagation is symmetric in time, a principle which can be used to create time reversed waves. Such waves are special 'pre-scattered' spatiotemporal fields, which propagate through a complex medium as if observing a scattering process in reverse, entering the medium as a complicated spatiotemporal field and arriving after propagation as a desired target field, such as a spatiotemporal focus. Time reversed waves have previously been demonstrated for relatively low frequency phenomena such as acoustics, water waves and microwaves. Many attempts have been made to extend these techniques into optics. However, the much higher frequencies of optics make for very different requirements. A fully time reversed wave is a volumetric field with arbitrary amplitude, phase and polarisation at every point in space and time. The creation of such fields has not previously been possible in optics. We demonstrate time reversed optical waves with a device capable of independently controlling all of light's classical degrees of freedom simultaneously. Such a class of ultrafast wavefront shaper is capable of generating a sequence of arbitrary 2D spatial/polarisation wavefronts at a bandwidth limited rate of 4.4 THz. This ability to manipulate the full field of an optical beam could be used to control both linear and nonlinear optical phenomena.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2019

Control of the temporal and polarization response of a multimode fiber

Control of the spatial and temporal properties of light propagating in disordered media have been demonstrated over the last decade using spatial light modulators. Most of the previous studies demonstrated spatial focusing to the speckle grain size, and manipulation of the temporal properties of the achieved focus. In this work, we demonstrate temporal control of the total impulse response integrated over all the spatial and polarization modes propagating through a multimode fiber. We notably demonstrate a global enhancement of light intensity at a chosen arrival time, as well as attenuating light intensity at an arbitrary delay. We also demonstrate the full polarization control of such engineered states and a multiple control at different delay times, which opens interesting perspectives for non-linear imaging through complex systems and high power fiber lasers.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2018

Transmission matrix approaches for non-linear fluorescence excitation through multiple scattering media

Several matrix approaches were developed to control light propagation through multiple scattering media under illumination of ultrashort pulses of light. These matrices can be recorded either with spectral or temporal resolution. Thanks to wavefront shaping, temporal and spatial refocusing have been demonstrated. In this work, we study how these different methods can be exploited to enhance a two-photon excitation fluorescence process. We first compare the different techniques on micrometer-size isolated fluorescent beads. We then demonstrate point-scanning imaging of such fluorescent microbeads located after a thick scattering medium, at a depth where conventional imaging would be impossible because of scattering effects.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2017

Temporal recompression through a scattering medium via a broadband transmission matrix

The transmission matrix is a unique tool to control light through a scattering medium. A monochromatic transmission matrix does not allow temporal control of broadband light. Conversely, measuring multiple transmission matrices with spectral resolution allows fine temporal control when a pulse is temporally broadened upon multiple scattering, but requires very long measurement time. Here, we show that a single linear operator, measured for a broadband pulse with a co-propagating reference, naturally allows for spatial focusing, and interestingly generates a two-fold temporal recompression at the focus, compared with the natural temporal broadening. This is particularly relevant for non-linear imaging techniques in biological tissues.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2016

Deterministic light focusing in space and time through multiple scattering media with a Time-Resolved Transmission Matrix approach

We report a method to characterize the propagation of an ultrashort pulse of light through a multiple scattering medium by measuring its time-resolved transmission matrix. This method is based on the use of a spatial light modulator together with a coherent time-gated detection of the transmitted speckle field. Using this matrix, we demonstrate the focusing of the scattered pulse at any arbitrary position in space and time after the medium. Our approach opens new perspectives for both fundamental studies and applications in imaging and coherent control in disordered media.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2016

Transmission-matrix-based point-spread-function engineering through a complex medium

We report a method to design at will the spatial profile of transmitted coherent light after propagation through a scattering sample. We compute an operator based on the experimentally measured transmission matrix, obtained by numerically adding an arbitrary mask in the Fourier domain prior to focusing. We demonstrate the strength of the technique through several examples: propagating Bessel beams, thus generating foci smaller than the diffraction limited speckle grain, donut beams, and helical beams. We characterize the 3D profile of the achieved foci and analyze the fundamental limitations of the technique. Our approach generalizes Fourier optics concepts for random media, and opens in particular interesting perspectives for super-resolution imaging through turbid media.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2016

Spatiotemporal coherent control of light through a multiply scattering medium with the Multi-Spectral Transmission Matrix

We report broadband characterization of the propagation of light through a multiply scattering medium by means of its Multi-Spectral Transmission Matrix. Using a single spatial light modulator, our approach enables the full control of both spatial and spectral properties of an ultrashort pulse transmitted through the medium. We demonstrate spatiotemporal focusing of the pulse at any arbitrary position and time with any desired spectral shape. Our approach opens new perspectives for fundamental studies of light-matter interaction in disordered media, and has potential applications in sensing, coherent control and imaging.

physics.optics↗