arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Nicolas K. Fontaine.
We demonstrate continuous distributed acoustic sensing over a 4400km long undersea cable. Bi-directional operation improves the strain signal-to-noise rate by >20dB, enabling 88000 50-m-spaced measurement points at a nominal telecom launch power.
We detect the recent M8.8 mega-earthquake in Eastern Russia, on a 4400km long active telecom cable in the Pacific Ocean. The resolution achieved 100m represents the highest spatial resolution, the largest number of ocean-bottom sensors, and the first fiber-optic deep-ocean observation of a tsunami wave.
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.
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.
We report tele-seismic waves detection from multiple earthquakes on an operational subsea cable from Iceland to Ireland. Using per-span laser interferometry with 100km spacing, we report clear detection of S-, P- and surface waves from multiple world-wide earthquakes, enabling seismic analysis for early warning applications.
We showcase an application that leverages multiple agents, powered by large language models and integrated tools, to collaboratively solve complex network operation tasks across various domains. The tasks include real-time topology retrieval, network optimization using physical models, and fiber switching facilitated by a robotic arm.
We demonstrate a spectrally-sliced single-polarization optical coherent receiver with a record 2.4-THz bandwidth, using a 200-GHz tantalum pentoxide photonic crystal microring resonator as the local oscillator frequency comb.
We experimentally demonstrate the first carrier- and LO-free 800G/λ receiver enabling direct compatibility with standard coherent transmitters via phase retrieval, achieving net 835-Gb/s transmission over 100-km SMF and record 8.27-b/s/Hz net optical spectral efficiency.
Multimode optical fibers represent the ideal platform for transferring multidimensional light states. However, dispersion degrades the correlations between the light's degrees of freedom, thus limiting the effective transport of ultrashort pulses between distant nodes of optical networks. Here, we demonstrate that tailoring the spatiotemporal structure of ultrashort light pulses can overcome the physical limitations imposed by both chromatic and modal dispersion in multimode optical fibers. We synthesize these light states with predefined spatial and chromatic dynamics through applying a sequence of transformations to shape the optical field in all its dimensions. Similar methods can also be used to overcome dispersion processes in other physical settings like acoustics and electron optics. Our results will enable advancements in laser-based technologies, including multimode optical communications, imaging, ultrafast light-matter interactions, and high brightness fiber sources.
We experimentally investigate transmitting high-order quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) signals with carrierless and intensity-only measurements with phase retrieval (PR) receiving techniques. The intensity errors during measurement, including noise and distortions, are found to be a limiting factor for the precise convergence of the PR algorithm. To improve the PR reconstruction accuracy, we propose a distortion-aware PR scheme comprising both training and reconstruction stages. By estimating and emulating the distortion caused by various channel impairments, the proposed scheme enables enhanced agreement between the estimated and measured amplitudes throughout the PR iteration, thus resulting in improved reconstruction performance to support high-order QAM transmission. With the aid of proposed techniques, we experimentally demonstrate 50-GBaud 16QAM and 32QAM signals transmitting through a standard single-mode optical fiber (SSMF) span of 40 and 80 km, and achieve bit error rates (BERs) below the 6.25% hard decision (HD)-forward error correction (FEC) and 25% soft decision (SD)-FEC thresholds for the two modulation formats, respectively. By tuning the pilot symbol ratio and applying concatenated coding, we also demonstrate that a post-FEC data rate of up to 140 Gb/s can be achieved for both distances at an optimal pilot symbol ratio of 20%.
Thin-film lithium niobate (TFLN) based frequency doublers have been widely recognized as essential components for both classical and quantum optical communications. Nonetheless, the efficiency of these devices is hindered by imperfections present in the quasi-phase matching (QPM) spectrum. In this study, we present a thorough analysis of the spectral imperfections in TFLN frequency doublers with varying lengths, ranging from 5 mm to 15 mm. Employing a non-destructive diagnostic method based on scattered light imaging, we identify the sources and waveguide sections that contribute to the imperfections in the QPM spectrum. Furthermore, by mapping the TFLN film thickness across the entire waveguiding regions, we successfully reproduce the QPM spectra numerically, thus confirming the prominent influence of film thickness variations on the observed spectral imperfections. This comprehensive investigation provides valuable insights into the identification and mitigation of spectral imperfections in TFLN-based frequency doublers, paving the way toward the realization of nonlinear optical devices with enhanced efficiency and improved spectral fidelity.
We monitor a 524km live network link using an FPGA-based sensing-capable coherent transceiver prototype during a human-caused cable break. Post-analysis of polarization data reveals minute-level potential warning precursors and baseline-exceeding changes directly preceding the break.
Multi-plane light conversion (MPLC) has recently been developed as a versatile tool for manipulating spatial distributions of the optical field through repeated phase modulations. An MPLC Device consists of a series of phase masks separated by free-space propagation. It can convert one orthogonal set of beams into another orthogonal set through unitary transformation, which is useful for a number of applications. In telecommunication, for example, mode-division multiplexing (MDM) is a promising technology that will enable continued scaling of capacity by employing spatial modes of a single fiber. MPLC has shown great potential in MDM devices with ultra-wide bandwidth, low insertion loss (IL), low mode-dependent loss (MDL), and low crosstalk. The fundamentals of design, simulation, fabrication, and characterization of practical MPLC mode (de)multiplexers will be discussed in this tutorial.
We demonstrate the digital twin of a network, network elements, and operating environment using machine learning. We achieve network card failure localization and remote collaboration over 86 km of fiber using augmented reality.
In this work we demonstrate an FPGA-based coherent optical frequency domain reflectometry setup for cable monitoring. Using coherent detection for averaging and narrowband filtering, we significantly improve the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) compared to traditional intensity-only techniques while also enabling continuous monitoring of phase and polarization. In addition, the probe signal has constant power, avoiding the nonlinear distortions and thereby enabling continuous use without interfering with data channels. We perform a field demonstration over a trans-oceanic cable using loopback configurations present in each repeater, demonstrating measurement SNR exceeding 30 dB for all about 80 repeaters with an averaging window of 1 second. We furthermore compare cable monitoring using coherent processing to today's solutions using power-only measurements. Our results show how transitioning to coherent technology for cable monitoring can improve sensitivity and enable new types of monitoring, exploring knowledge gained from transitioning from incoherent to coherent data transmission.
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.
Off-axis digital holography is used to align a few-mode fiber to a multi-mode fiber in a free-space optical setup. Alignment based on power coupling measurements alone cannot guarantee low mode-dependent loss. The proposed alignment method enables reliable fiber coupling with low mode-dependent loss and crosstalk.
Angular resolved digital holography is presented as a technique for real-time characterization of the full optical field (amplitude and phase) of space-division multiplexing components and fibers, here a 6-mode photonic-lantern is characterized.