Theory of polarization and spatial information recovery by modal dispersal and phase conjugation

A general theory of polarization and spatial information recovery by modal dispersal and phase conjugation is presented by means of a coherency matrix formalism. The theory is applied to a system that consists of a multimode modal-scrambling fiber terminated by a conventional phase-conjugate mirror that reflects only one polarization component. The degree of polarization and the signal-to-noise ratio of the reconstructed field are discussed as a function of input-beam launching conditions. Some experimental results are also shown for comparison with the theory.