Spatial coherence of laser light propagating in an optical fibre

The modulus of the complex degree of spatial coherence at the exit face of an optical fibre is determined for a quasi-monochromatic, spatially coherent source. It is found that the contribution of the cross-terms between many modes to the formulus of pointwise correlation is negligible for a highly multimode fibre in which even and odd modes are equally excited, although care must be taken when even or odd modes only are selectively excited in the waveguide. Experimental results obtained by using a Koesters prism in the wavefront reversing interferometer are also presented for a graded-index multimode fibre and a quasi-single mode fibre. Modal contents of the propagating field in the optical fibre can be successfully determined, provided that the coherence time of a quasi-monochromatic source and the path difference of the wavefront reversing system are knowna priori.