A low crosstalk multi-core few-mode fiber with composite refractive index profile and air-hole embedded trench assistance

Abstract

In order to reduce the fiber crosstalk for the space division multiplexing (SDM), this paper proposes a novel multi-core few-mode fiber of composite refractive index profile and dual assistance structure. On the one hand, by adopt dual assistance of air-hole embedment and trench wrapping around all the seven cores, inter-core crosstalk is greatly reduced. On the other hand, a non-circularly symmetrical refractive index (RI) profile is innovatively proposed for the six outer-ring cores, which not only weakens the inter-mode coupling but also has a suppression effect on inter-core crosstalk. The finite element method (FEM) is used to analyze the fiber structure. In the case of transmitting six spatial modes, the minimum inter-mode effective RI difference (Δneff) between the linear polarization (LP) modes of the center core and between the spatial modes of the outer-ring core are greater than 0.5 × 10−3, the inter-core crosstalk of the sixth mode LP02 at 1550 nm is less than -66dB/100km, and the relative core multiplexing factor reaches 29.24. The characteristics of this structure are significantly better than that of current commercial optical fibers, promising broad application prospects in large-capacity SDM optical communication system.