Forward Brillouin scattering in few-mode fibers

Elad Layosh; Elad Zehavi; Alon Bernstein; Mirit Hen; Maayan Holsblat; Ori Pearl; Avi Zadok

doi:10.1038/s41377-025-01877-z

Your Location：

Home >

Browse articles >

Forward Brillouin scattering in few-mode fibers

Original Articles

- Forward Brillouin scattering in few-mode fibers
- Light: Science & Applications Vol. 14, Issue 9, Pages: 2552-2570(2025)
- Affiliations：
  
  1.Faculty of Engineering and Institute for Nano-Technology and Advanced Materials, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan 5290002, Israel
  2.Presently with the Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Solid State Institute, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa 3200003, Israel
- Author bio：
  
  Avi Zadok (Avi.Zadok@technion.ac.il)
- Funds：
- DOI：10.1038/s41377-025-01877-z
  CLC：
- Received：22 November 2024，
  
  Revised：2025-04-22，
  
  Accepted：24 April 2025，
  
  Published Online：09 July 2025，
  
  Published：30 September 2025
- Accepted：
Scan QR Code
Layosh, E. et al. Forward Brillouin scattering in few-mode fibers. Light: Science & Applications, 14, 2552-2570 (2025).
DOI：

Layosh, E. et al. Forward Brillouin scattering in few-mode fibers. Light: Science & Applications, 14, 2552-2570 (2025). DOI： 10.1038/s41377-025-01877-z.

摘要

Abstract

Forward Brillouin scattering is an opto-mechanical effect in which two co-propagating optical fields couple with an acoustic mode in a common medium. The effect has been studied in standard optical fibers since 1985

however nearly all studies have been limited to the single optical mode regime. Forward Brillouin scattering in single-mode fibers takes place through two classes of acoustic modes only: purely radial ones and modes of two-fold azimuthal symmetry. Acoustic modes may only be stimulated at their cut-off frequencies

and the acoustic frequencies in standard fibers are limited to 600 MHz. In this work

we extend the study of forward Brillouin scattering to few-mode optical fibers through analysis

calculations

and experiment. Measurements are performed in a commercial

off-the-shelf step-index fiber with standard cladding through three optical modes. We demonstrate for the first time the stimulation of acoustic modes with first-order and fourth-order azimuthal symmetries. Acoustic frequencies up to 1.8 GHz are observed

and the acoustic modes are stimulated above their cut-off frequencies. Angular momentum is transferred between the orbital degrees of freedom of the optical and acoustic waves. The results extend the understanding and formulation of forward Brillouin scattering in optical fibers

and they may find applications in fiber lasers

sensing

non-reciprocal propagation effects

and quantum states manipulation.

关键词

Keywords

references

Shelby, R. M., Levenson, M. D. & Bayer, P. W. Guided acoustic-wave Brillouin scattering. Phys. Rev. B 31 , 5244–5252 (1985)..

Biryukov, A. S., Sukharev, M. E. & Dianov, E. M. Excitation of sound waves upon propagation of laser pulses in optical fibres. Quantum Electron. 32 , 765–775 (2002)..

Russell, P. S. J., Culverhouse, D. & Farahi, F. Experimental observation of forward stimulated Brillouin scattering in dual-mode single-core fibre. Electron. Lett. 26 , 1195–1196 (1990)..

Russell, P. S. J., Culverhouse, D. & Farahi, F. Theory of forward stimulated Brillouin scattering in dual-mode single-core fibers. IEEE J. Quantum Electron. 27 , 836–842 (1991)..

Zadok, A. et al. Forward Brillouin Scattering in Standard Optical Fibers (Springer, 2022).

Ippen, E. P. & Stolen, R. H. Stimulated Brillouin scattering in optical fibers. Appl. Phys. Lett. 21 , 539–541 (1972)..

Nikles, M., Thevenaz, L. & Robert, P. A. Brillouin gain spectrum characterization in single-mode optical fibers. J. Lightwave Technol. 15 , 1842–1851 (1997)..

Kobyakov, A., Sauer, M. & Chowdhury, D. Stimulated Brillouin scattering in optical fibers. Adv. Opt. Photonics 2 , 1–59 (2010)..

Antman, Y. et al. Optomechanical sensing of liquids outside standard fibers using forward stimulated Brillouin scattering. Optica 3 , 510–516 (2016)..

Hayashi, N. et al. Experimental study on depolarized GAWBS spectrum for optomechanical sensing of liquids outside standard fibers. Opt. Express 25 , 2239–2244 (2017)..

Chow, D. M. et al. Distributed forward Brillouin sensor based on local light phase recovery. Nat. Commun. 9 , 2990 (2018)..

Chow, D. M. & Thévenaz, L. Forward Brillouin scattering acoustic impedance sensor using thin polyimide-coated fiber. Opt. Lett. 43 , 5467–5470 (2018)..

Bashan, G. et al. Optomechanical time-domain reflectometry. Nat. Commun. 9 , 2991 (2018)..

Diamandi, H. H. et al. Distributed opto-mechanical analysis of liquids outside standard fibers coated with polyimide. APL Photonics 4 , 016105 (2019)..

Diamandi, H. H. et al. Forward stimulatedBrillouin scattering analysis of optical fibers coatings. J. Lightwave Technol. 39 , 1800–1807 (2021)..

London, Y. et al. Opto-mechanical fiber sensing of gamma radiation. J. Lightwave Technol. 39 , 6637–6645 (2021)..

Sánchez, L. A. et al. High accuracy measurement of Poisson's ratio of optical fibers and its temperature dependence using forward-stimulated Brillouin scattering. Opt. Express 30 , 42–52 (2022)..

Sánchez, L. A. et al. Recent advances in forward Brillouin scattering: sensor applications. Sensors 23 , 318 (2022)..

Hua, Z. J. et al. Non-destructive and distributed measurement of optical fiber diameter with nanometer resolution based on coherent forward stimulated Brillouin scattering. Light. : Adv. Manuf. 2 , 25 (2021)..

Yang, G. J. et al. Simultaneous sensing of temperature and strain with enhanced performance using forward Brillouin scattering in highly nonlinear fiber. Opt. Lett. 48 , 3611–3614 (2023)..

Zeng, K. Y. et al. High-sensitivity acoustic impedance sensing based on forward Brillouin scattering in a highly nonlinear fiber. Opt. Express 31 , 8595–8609 (2023)..

Li, T. F. et al. 3-mm recognition capability of forward stimulated Brillouin scattering measurement by Brillouin selective sideband amplification. J. Lightwave Technol. 42 , 898–906 (2024)..

Li, T. F. et al. Forward Brillouin scattering for bubble and flow interruption detection toward microscale liquid systems. J. Lightwave Technol. 43 , 354–361, https://doi.org/10.1109/JLT.2024.3445167 (2025)..

Sánchez, L. A. et al. Forward Brillouin scattering spectroscopy in optic al fibers with whispering-gallery modes. Adv. Optical Mater. 12 , 2301629 (2024)..

Yaman, F. et al. Long distance transmission in few-mode fibers. Opt. Express 18 , 13250–13257 (2010)..

Kitayama, K. I. & Diamantopoulos, N. P. Few-mode optical fibers: original motivation and recent progress. IEEE Commun. Mag. 55 , 163–169 (2017)..

Li, A. et al. Few-mode fiber based optical sensors. Opt. Express 23 , 1139–1150 (2015)..

Snyder, A. W. & Young, W. R. Modes of optical waveguides. J. Optical Soc. Am. 68 , 297–309 (1978)..

Snyder, A. W.&Love, J. D. Optical Waveguide Theory (Springer, 1983).

Kittlaus, E. A., Otterstrom, N. T. & Rakich, P. T. On-chip inter-modal Brillouin scattering. Nat. Commun. 8 , 15819 (2017)..

Otterstrom, N. T. et al. A silicon Brillouin laser. Science 360 , 1113–1116 (2018)..

Liu, Y. et al. Circulator-free Brillouin photonic planar circuit. Laser Photonics Rev. 15 , 2000481 (2021)..

Xu, W. D. et al. Ultranarrow-linewidth stimulated intermodal forward Brillouin scattering. In: Proceedings of 2023 Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics, San Jose, CA, USA 1–2 (IEEE, 2023).

Xu, W. D. et al. Strong optomechanical interactions with long-lived fundamental acoustic waves. Optica 10 , 206–213 (2023)..

Li, S. P., Li, M. J. & Vodhanel, R. S. All-optical Brillouin dynamic grating generation in few-mode optical fiber. Opt. Lett. 37 , 4660–4662 (2012)..

Song, K. Y., Kim, Y. H. & Kim, B. Y. Intermodal stimulated Brillouin scattering in two-mode fibers. Opt. Lett. 38 , 1805–1807 (2013)..

Catalano, E. et al. Distributed modal birefringence measurement in a few-mode fiber based on stimulated Brillouin scattering. J. Lightwave Technol. 42 , 2473–2479 (2024)..

Bashan , G. et al. Forward stimulated Brillouin scattering and opto-mechanical non-reciprocity in standard polarization maintaining fibres. Light Sci. Appl. 10 , 119 (2021)..

Diamandi, H. H. et al. Interpolarization forward stimulated Brillouin scattering in standard single-mode fibers. Laser Photonics Rev. 16 , 2100337 (2022)..

Zeng, X. L. et al. Stimulated Brillouin scattering in chiral photonic crystal fiber. Photonics Res. 10 , 711–718 (2022)..

Qiu, W. J. et al. Stimulated Brillouin scattering in nanoscale silicon step-index waveguides: a general framework of selection rules and calculating SBS gain. Opt. Express 21 , 31402–31419 (2013)..

Sittig, E. Zur Systematik der elastischen Eigenschwingungen isotroper Kreiszylinder. Acta Acust. U. Acust. 7 , 175–180 (1957)..

Auld, A. B. Acoustic Fields and Waves in Solids . (Wiley and Sons, 1973).

Bernstein, A. et al. Tensor characteristics of forward Brillouin sensors in bare and coated fibers. APL Photonics 8 , 126105 (2023)..

Butsch, A. et al. Optomechanical nonlinearity in dual-nanoweb structure suspended inside capillary fiber. Phys. Rev. Lett. 109 , 183904 (2012)..

Wang, J. et al. FSBS resonances observed in a standard highly nonlinear fiber. Opt. Express 19 , 5339–5349 (2011)..

Cheng, H. T. et al. A terahertz bandwidth non-magnetic isolator. Nat. Photon. 19 , 533–539 (2025)..

Bashan, G. et al. A forward Brillouin fibre laser. Nat. Commun. 13 , 3554 (2022)..

Kang, M. S. et al. Tightly trapped acoustic phonons in photonic crystal fibres as highly nonlinear artificial Raman oscillators. Nat. Phys. 5 , 276–280 (2009)..

London, Y. et al. Distributed analysis of nonlinear wave mixing in fiber due to forward Brillouin scattering and Kerr effects. APL Photonics 3 , 110804 (2018)..

Zarifi, A. et al. Highly localized distributed Brillouin scattering response in a photonic integrated circuit. APL Photonics 3 , 036101 (2018)..

Views

Downloads

CSCD

Alert me when the article has been cited

Submit

Tools

Publicity Resources

No data

Related Author

No data

Related Institution

No data

⁰