title: Splice loss requirements in multi-mode fiber mode-division-multiplex transmission links.
abstract: We investigate numerically the influence of fiber splices and fiber connectors to the statistics of mode dependent loss (MDL) and multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) outage capacity in mode multiplexed multi-mode fiber links. Our results indicate required splice losses much lower than currently feasible to achieve a reasonable outage capacity in long-haul transmission systems. Splice losses as low as 0.03dB may effectively lead to an outage of MIMO channels after only a few hundred kilometers transmission length. In a first approximation, the relative capacity solely depends on the accumulated splice loss and should be less than ≈ 2dB to ensure a relative capacity of 90%. We also show that discrete mode permutation (mixing) within the transmission line may effectively increase the maximum transmission distance by a factor of 5 for conventional splice losses.
authors: Technische Universität Berlin, FB Photonics, Berlin, Germany. stefan.warm@tu-berlin.de
authors: Stefan
authors: S
authors: Warm
authors: Klaus
authors: K
authors: Petermann