Multimode optical fibers have seen increasing applications in communication,imaging, high-power lasers and amplifiers. However, inherent imperfections andenvironmental perturbations cause random polarization and mode mixing, makingthe output polarization states very different from the input one. This poses aserious issue for employing polarization sensitive techniques to controllight-matter interactions or nonlinear optical processes at the distal end of afiber probe. Here we demonstrate a complete control of polarization states forall output channels by only manipulating the spatial wavefront of a laser beaminto the fiber. Arbitrary polarization states for individual output channelsare generated by wavefront shaping without constraint on input polarizations.The strong coupling between spatial and polarization degrees of freedom in amultimode fiber enables full polarization control with spatial degrees offreedom alone, transforming a multimode fiber to a highly-efficientreconfigurable matrix of waveplates.
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