Simultaneous measurement of mode dependent loss and mode coupling in few mode fibers by analyzing the Rayleigh backscattering amplitudes.

In this paper, we propose and experimentally demonstrate a nondestructive method for simultaneously measuring the mode-dependent loss (MDL) and mode coupling (MC) in few-mode fibers (FMFs). The method is based on analyzing the Rayleigh backscattering amplitudes obtained with an optical time domain reflectometer (OTDR). The experimental results show that, in about 4 km six-mode FMF, the MDL and MC values are 0.