Measurement of fiber propagation constants using a prism-fiber coupler

We report on the use of a prism-fiber coupler to determine the propagation constants for the scalar modes in an optical fiber by measuring, respectively, the incident angle, θ_i, and the position of the m-lines coupled out of the fiber by the prism coupler. The position is related to the value of the corresponding propagation constant. The degeneracy of the modes is shown on the m-line photographs. Good agreement is obtained between measured and calculated values of the propagation constants.