Optical Fiber Telecommunications VIB: Chapter 13. Transmission Systems Using Multicore Fibers (Optics and Photonics)

Multi-core fiber (MCF) transmission technologies have been widely studied as the simplest form of space-division multiplexing (SDM). Many types of MCFs exist,but the most common is Uncoupled MCF where each individual core is assumed to be an independent optical path. The key issue in these systems is how to suppress the inter-core crosstalk and the coupling/de-coupling mechanism. Currently, many MCF varieties, coupling methods, splicing techniques, and transmission schemes have been proposed and demonstrated and despite many of the component technologies still being in the development stage, MCF systems already present the capability for huge transmission capacity. In this chapter, these component technologies and early experimental trials of MCF transmission are reviewed. At first, we provide an overview of medium- to long-haul MCF transmission and theories. Secondly, coupling technologies between MCF-SMF and MCF-MCF are reviewed. Finally, several experimental demonstrations, including transmission exceeding 100Tb/s and over 1000km, are described.