New 3D-printed microscale photonic lantern opens opportunities for spatial mode multiplexing

https://phys.org/news/2024-06-3d-microscale-photonic-lantern-opportunities.html

"free-standing, print on/ adhere to photonic circuits, optical fibers, lasers, photodetectors... (de-)multiplexer... and array of separated single mode optical signals... 6-mode mixing, 375µm long photonic lantern converts between 6 single-mode optical wave inputs containing superposition of modes, into single 6-mode waveguide... low insertion loss (-2.6 dB), low wavelength sensitivity, low polarization and mode-dependent losses (-0.2 dB and -4.4 dB respectively)... imaging, high capacity communication, directed energy"