Open AccessFibre modal power distributions in astronomy and their application to OH‐suppression fibres
Author(s) -
Corbett J.,
Butterley T.,
AllingtonSmith J. R.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
monthly notices of the royal astronomical society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.058
H-Index - 383
eISSN - 1365-2966
pISSN - 0035-8711
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2007.11765.x
Subject(s) - physics , telescope , optics , modal , multi mode optical fiber , exit pupil , mode (computer interface) , optical fiber , point spread function , power (physics) , single mode optical fiber , point (geometry) , computer science , quantum mechanics , pupil , chemistry , geometry , mathematics , polymer chemistry , operating system
Knowledge of the modal power distribution (MPD) in multimode optical fibre is crucial for the design of OH‐suppressing fibre systems based on single‐mode fibre arrays. MPDs allow us to estimate the minimum number of modes required to provide good data quality for astronomy so that we can reduce the size and cost of the single‐mode array. This paper shows how the MPD of multimode fibres changes when fed with the telescope point spread function and when illuminated with an image of the telescope exit pupil via a field lenslet under conditions of ideal, natural and partially corrected seeing. We show that OH‐suppressing fibres operating at 800 nm require arrays of single‐mode fibres that will be challenging to manufacture. The complete J and H bands, however, require as few as 40–80 modes.