Design and Applicability of Multi-Core Fibers With Standard Cladding Diameter

摘要

We show the design and applicability of multi-core fiber (MCF) with the standard 125 mu m cladding diameter to the telecommunication systems. It offers easier and practical use of the space-division multiplexing (SDM) technology given its excellent fiber productivity and utilization of existing standard technologies. We numerically and experimentally reveal that the simple step-index (SI) profile enables us to allocate four cores in the standard 125 mu m cladding and to realize full compliance with G.657.A1 fiber. We then expand the design and concept of the standard cladding MCF and show the index profile and single-mode bandwidth offer control of XT characteristics. We elucidate the application scope of the standard cladding MCF for not only the full-band (O-L band) application to short-reach and terrestrial transmission consistent with ITU-T Recommendations G.652 and G.657, but also ultra-long haul transmission, such as submarine systems compliant with ITU-T Recommendation G.654.