A detailed systematic investigation of the accuracy of digital modal decomposition process that uses stochastic parallel gradient descent (SPGD) algorithm is presented in this paper. Composite beams of known weights and phases corresponding to the eigenmodes of a three-mode fiber are generated theoretically and through experiments using a spatial light modulator (SLM). The weights and phases of the constituent scalar modes are extracted from the intensity profile of the composite beam using the SPGD method, for both theoretical and experimental conditions. Detailed analysis of the sources of error in such SPGD based digital modal decomposition method is carried out by generating composite beams of various modal ratios and phase combinations theoretically. Impact of the experimental errors such as effect of background noise, nonlinearity, misalignment of the camera and that due to the cumulative propagation phase, on the extracted weights and relative phase values are quantified. We find that any ambiguity at phase angles closer to 90 deg among the constituent modes especially when the modal weights are non-uniform, cannot be corrected easily and hence is a fundamental limitation of the intensity-based modal decomposition technique. The methodology used in this manuscript to identify the systemic errors in modal decomposition can be potentially extended to any digital decomposition technique.
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