Shaping the light transmission through a multimode optical fibre: complex transformation analysis and applications in biophotonics

We present a powerful approach towards full understanding of laser light propagation through multimode optical fibres and control of the light at the fibre output. Transmission of light within a multimode fibre introduces randomization of laser beam amplitude, phase and polarization. We discuss the importance of each of these factors and introduce an experimental geometry allowing full analysis of the light transmission through the multimode fibre and subsequent beam-shaping using a single spatial light modulator. We show that using this approach one can generate an arbitrary output optical field within the accessible field of view and range of spatial frequencies given by fibre core diameter and numerical aperture, respectively, that contains over 80% of the total available power. We also show that this technology has applications in biophotonics. As an example, we demonstrate the manipulation of colloidal microparticles. (C) 2011 Optical Society of America