title: Few-mode erbium-doped fiber amplifier with photonic lantern for pump spatial mode control.
abstract: We demonstrate a few-mode erbium-doped fiber amplifier employing a mode-selective photonic lantern for controlling the modal content of the pump light. Amplification of six spatial modes in a 5 m long erbium-doped fiber to ∼6.2  dBm average power is obtained while maintaining high modal fidelity. Through mode-selective forward pumping of the two degenerate LP21modes operating at 976 nm, differential modal gains of <1  dB between all modes and signal gains of ∼16  dB at 1550 nm are achieved. In addition, low differential modal gain for near-full C-band operation is demonstrated.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lopez-Galmiche
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Sanjabi Eznaveh
authors.forename: J E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Antonio-Lopez
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Velazquez Benitez
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rodriguez Asomoza
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Sanchez Mondragon
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gonnet
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sillard
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schülzgen
authors.forename: C M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Okonkwo
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Amezcua Correa