Higher-order modes up to LP33 are controllably excited in water-filled kagomé-and bandgap-style hollow-core photonic crystal fibers (HC-PCF). A spatial light modulator is used to create amplitude and phase distributions that closely match those of the fiber modes, resulting in typical launch efficiencies of 10-20% into the liquid-filled core. Modes, excited across the visible wavelength range, closely resemble those observed in air-filled kagomé HC-PCF and match numerical simulations. Mode indices are obtained by launching plane-waves at specific angles onto the fiber input-face and comparing the resulting intensity pattern to that of a particular mode. These results provide a framework for spatially-resolved sensing in HC-PCF microreactors and fiber-based optical manipulation. arXiv:1807.08806v1 [physics.optics]

Higher-order modes are controllably excited in water-filled kagomè-, bandgap-style, and simplified hollow-core photonic crystal fibers (HC-PCF). A spatial light modulator is used to create amplitude and phase distributions that closely match those of the fiber modes, resulting in typical launch efficiencies of 10-20% into the liquid-filled core. Modes, excited across the visible wavelength range, closely resemble those observed in air-filled kagomè HC-PCF and match numerical simulations. These results provide a framework for spatially-resolved sensing in HC-PCF microreactors and fiber-based optical manipulation.