Novel applications of space-division multiplexing

Abstract

Space-division multiplexing (SDM) using multi-core fibers (MCFs) and few-mode fibers (FMFs) was proposed as a solution to increase capacity and/or reduce the cost per bit of fiber-optic transmission. Advances in passive and active SDM devices as well as digital signal processing have led to impressive SDM transmission demonstrations in the laboratory. Although the perceived advantages in terms of capacity and cost per bit that SDM offers over parallel SMF bundles are not universally accepted, SDM is beginning to emerge as an indispensable solution in major network segments. The introduction of the spatial degree of freedom allows optical networks to overcome fundamental limitations such as fiber nonlinearity as well practical limitations such as power delivery. We describe these application scenarios that the optical communications industry has already began to explore. From a fundamental science point of view, concepts such as the principal modes, generalized Stokes space, and multi-component solitons discovered in SDM research will likely have a broad impact in other areas of science and engineering.

Keywords

space-division multiplexing (SDM) / few-mode fiber (FMF) / multi-core fiber (MCF) / wavelength-selective switch (WSS) / passive optical network (PON)

References

[1] Richardson D J, Fini J M, Nelson L E. Space-division multiplexing in optical fibres. Nature Photonics, 2013, 7(5): 354–362

[2] Ip E, Bai N, Huang Y K, Mateo E, Yaman F, Bickham S, Tam H Y, Lu C, Li M J, Ten S, Lau A P T, Tse V, Peng G D, Montero C, Prieto X, Li G. 88×3×112-Gb/s WDM transmission over 50-km of three-mode fiber with inline multimode fiber amplifier. In: Proceedings of 37th European Conference and Exposition on Optical Communications (Geneva). 2011, p.Th.13.C.12

[3] Winzer P J. Optical networking beyond WDM. IEEE Photonics Journal, 2012, 4(2): 647–651

[4] Zhu B, Liu X, Chandrasekhar S, Taunay T, Fishteyn M, Yan M, Fini J M, Monberg E, Dimarcello F. 112-Tb/s (7×160×107Gb/s) space-division multiplexed DWDM transmission over a 76.8-km multicore fiber. In: Proceedings of European Conference and Exposition on Optical Communications. 2011, p.Tu.5.B.5

[5] Antonelli C, Mecozzi A, Shtaif M, Winzer P J. Stokes-space analysis of modal dispersion in fibers with multiple mode transmission. Optics Express, 2012, 20(11): 11718–11733

[6] Fan S, Kahn J M. Principal modes in multimode waveguides. Optics Letters, 2005, 30(2): 135–137

[7] Mecozzi A, Antonelli C, Shtaif M. Nonlinear propagation in multi-mode fibers in the strong coupling regime. Optics Express, 2012, 20(11): 11673–11678

[8] Grüner-Nielsen L, Sun Y, Jensen R V S, Nicholson J W, Lingle R. Recent advances in low DGD few-mode fibre design, fabrication, characterization and experiments. In: Proceedings of Optical Fiber Communication Conference. 2015, p.M2C.3

[9] Takahashi H, Igarashi K, Tsuritani T. Long-haul transmission using multicore fibers. In: Proceedings of Optical Fiber Communication Conference (San Francisco, California). 2014, p. Tu2J.2

[10] Leon-Saval S G, Fontaine N K, Salazar-Gil J R, Ercan B, Ryf R, Bland-Hawthorn J. Mode-selective photonic lanterns for space-division multiplexing. Optics Express, 2014, 22(1): 1036–1044

[11] Bai N, Ip E, Wang T, Li G. Multimode fiber amplifier with tunable modal gain using a reconfigurable multimode pump. Optics Express, 2011, 19(17): 16601–16611

[12] Abedin K S, Taunay T F, Fishteyn M, DiGiovanni D J, Supradeepa V R, Fini J M, Yan M F, Zhu B, Monberg E M, Dimarcello F V. Cladding-pumped erbium-doped multicore fiber amplifier. Optics Express, 2012, 20(18): 20191–20200

[13] Jung Y, Lim E L, Kang Q, May-Smith T C, Wong N H, Standish R, Poletti F, Sahu J K, Alam S U, Richardson D J. Cladding pumped few-mode EDFA for mode division multiplexed transmission. Optics Express, 2014, 22(23): 29008–29013

[14] Fontaine N K, Ryf R, Liu C, Ercan B, Salazar Gil J R, Leon-Saval S G, Bland-Hawthorn J, Neilson D T. Few-mode fiber wavelength selective switch with spatial-diversity and reduced-steering angle. In: Proceedings of Optical Fiber Communication Conference. 2014, p.Th4A.7

[15] Takeshima K, Tsuritani T, Tsuchida Y, Maeda K, Watanabe K, Sasa T, Imamura K, Sugizaki R, Igarashi K, Morita I, Suzuki M. 51.1-Tbit/s MCF transmission over 2520 km using cladding pumped 7-core EDFAs. In: Proceedings of Optical Fiber Communications Conference and Exhibition. 2015, pp. W3G–1

[16] Fontaine N K, Ryf R, Chen H, Benitez A V, Guan B, Scott R, Ercan B, Yoo S J B, Grüner-Nielsen L E, Sun Y, Lingle R, Antonio-Lopez E, Amezcua-Correa R. 30×30 MIMO transmission over 15 spatial modes. In: Proceedings of Optical Fiber Communication Conference Post Deadline Papers. 2015, p.Th5C.1

[17] Li G, Bai N, Zhao N, Xia C. Space-division multiplexing: the next frontier in optical communication. Advances in Optics and Photonics, 2014, 6(4): 413–487

[18] Bergano N. Undersea fiber optic cables – enabling a connected world. In: Proceedings of Optical Fiber Communications Conference. 2015, p.Tu1A.2

[19] Zhang H, Turukhin A, Sinkin O V, Patterson W, Batshon H G, Sun Y, Davidson C R, Mazurczyk M, Mohs G, Foursa D G, Pilipetskii A. Power-efficient 100 Gb/s transmission over transoceanic distance using 8-dimensional coded modulation. In: Proceedings of 2015 European Conference on Optical Communication (ECOC). 2015, 1–3

[20] Yaman F, Bai N, Zhu B, Wang T, Li G. Long distance transmission in few-mode fibers. Optics Express, 2010, 18(12): 13250–13257

[21] Yaman F, Zhang S, Huang Y K, Ip E ,Downie J D, Wood W A, Zakharian A, Mishra S K, Hurley J E , Zhang Y, Djordjevic I B, Huang M F, Mateo E, Nakamura K, Inoue T , Inada Y, Ogata T. First quasi-single-mode transmission over transoceanic distance using few-mode fibers. In: Proceedings of Optical Fiber Communication Conference Post Deadline Papers (Los Angeles, California). 2015, p. Th5C.7

[22] Wen H, Zheng H, Zhu B, Li G. Experimental demonstration of long-distance analog transmission over few-mode fibers. In: Proceedings of Optical Fiber Communication Conference (Los Angeles, California). 2015, p. M3E.2

[23] Marom D M, Dunayevsky J, Sinefeld D, Blau M, Ryf R, Fontaine N K, Montoliu M, Randel S, Liu C, Ercan B, Esmaeelpour M, Chandrasekhar S, Gnauck A H, Leon-Saval S G, Bland-Hawthorn J, Salazar-Gil J R, Sun Y, Grüner-Nielsen L, Lingle R. Wavelength-selective switch with direct few mode fiber integration. Optics Express, 2015, 23(5): 5723–5737

[24] Ning C, Zhenxing L, Effenberger F J. Large splitting and long reach passive optical networks with mode coupling receivers. In: Proceedings of 2010 36th European Conference and Exhibition on Optical Communication (ECOC). 2010, 1–3

[25] Xia C, Chand N, Velázquez-Benítez A M, Yang Z, Liu X, Antonio-Lopez J E, Wen H, Zhu B, Zhao N, Effenberger F, Amezcua-Correa R, Li G. Time-division-multiplexed few-mode passive optical network. Optics Express, 2015, 23(2): 1151–1158

Acknowledgements

This work has been supported in part by the National Basic Research Program of China (973) (No. 2014CB340104/1), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (Grant Nos. 61377076, 61307085 and 61431009).

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

2014 Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg